186 TRlCHOPlLrA. 



The origin of TrichopiUa suavis appears to have been but 

 vaguely known till the late M. Morren of Liege published the 

 following particulars of its habitat in the Belgique horticole of 

 1874 :— 



"it was discovered in 1848 by Warscewicz in Costa Rica, on the 



Cordillera, at an altitude of 5,000—8,000 feet. He met with the 



finest specimens on the volcano of Chiriqui, at an altitude of 8,000 



feet, in a region where the thermometer ranged from 10" — 15° C. 



(50° — 60° F.). Warscewicz found the plants growing on oaks, and 



on Oupania glahra at from 20 to 40 feet above the ground, never 



lower down; if the trees to which they affix themselves are thrown 



down by any accident or fall from old age, the Trichopilias upon 



them languish and die. On Chiriqui at this altitude there is a dry 



season lasting from November till April, when there is neither rain nor 



dew and the wind is often very violent; but throughout the remainder 



of the year both rains and dews are copious and frequent." 



TrichopiUa suavis flowered for the first time in this country in 



1851 simultaneously in the collections of Mrs. Lawrence at Ealing and 



Mr. R. S. Holford at Westonbirt and in the nursery of Messrs. 



Loddiges at Hackney. 



T. tortilis. 



Pseudo-bulbs clustered, ovoid, compressed, pale green, 1| — 2| inches 



long. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, acute, 5 — 7 inches long. Peduncles 



procumbent, shorter than the leaves with an appressed sheathing bract 



at each joint. Sepals and petals linear-oblong, 2| inches long, spirally 



twisted, dull pale rose with a broad margin of light yellow green ; 



lip white blotched and spotted with light red.-brown, broadly oblong 



when spread out, four-lobed, the basal lobes rolled over the column, 



the anterior lobes spreading Avith crisped and undulate margin. Column 



terete with a three-lobed fimbriated hood at the apex. 



Trichopilia tortiUs, Lindl. in £ot. Reg. XXII. t. 1863 (1836). Bot. Mag. t. 3739. 

 Rchb. Xen. Orch. II. p. 101. Knowles and Westc. Fl. Cab. III. t. 101. Morren in 

 Belg. liort. 1874, p. 91. WilUams' Orch. Alb. VIII. t. 349. 



Trichojnlia tortiUs is the species on which the genus was founded 



by Dr. Lindley in 1836 ; it had been introduced the year before by 



Mr. Barker, of Birmingham, and shortly afterwards it was sent by 



Mr. Parkinson, Her Majesty's Consul in Mexico, to the Woburn 



collection, where it flowered in 1839. Several localities in southern 



Mexico are recorded in which it was gathered by Ehrenberg, Galeotti 



and other botanical explorers of that region. 



