Plate 103 



EPISTEPHIUM WILLIAMSII. 



Mr. Williams 8 Bpisfephium 



Gen. Ohar. Perianthinm basi urceolo dentate cinctum. Sepala patciitia v. rcflexa, libera, 

 lateralia labello supposita. Petala latiora v. angustiora. LahcUum sessile, libcrum, indivisuTn, 

 circa colnmiiain convolutum, disco barbatum v. cristatum. Cohnvna scTnitorcSj mnrginntrtj infra 

 stigma 2-tubercmaia, apice membranftcea, dilutata, S-fida, lobo medio cucullato aiitbcrifero. Av- 

 thera terminalis persistans, loculis approximatia ^-quadrilocularibiis, Pi>lHula 4, compressa, basi 

 retroplicata. — Hcrbee Americce cequinodialis^ ferrcstres. Folia nervosa, evag/nafrf. Flores viagvi, 

 ermsvicni, LindL Gen. ei. Sn. Orchid. 432. 



Epistephium Wlllicbms'd} foliis linoari-oLlongia acutl;^ semi-iiTn|)lcxicaulil)ns, Tnargluibus rccurvis 



valde coriaceis laivibus nitidis, nurvis parallelis non rcticulafis, sopulia liiu'iiri-oblongis arntis, 

 petah's oblongis scpalis latioribus, labclli lobo tcrminali snburbiciilato 2-li(lo niarj;^nibiis 

 crenulatis, disco medio longe cristato. 



Epistephium Wllllainsii. TTnnl-.fh ms. But. Mag. t. 5i85. 



A very curious and most beautiful plant, introduced from Bahia by C. H. Wil- 

 liams, Esq., to tlie Royal Gardens at Kew, '\\liere it flowered finely under Mr. Smitli's 

 excellent management in the summer of 1864. It belongs to the genus Einatcphhimy 

 which inhabits the tropics of South America, and is distinguished from tlie very 

 closely allied Sohralia, by the toothed culyculus crowning the ovary. The genus is de- 

 scribed as having strongly reticulated nerves on the leaf, but this is perhaps best seen 

 in the dried plant ; the leaves of our species are very coriaceous, glossy, and almost 

 nerveless ; nothing can exceed their brilliant, glossy green surface. Many other species 

 of this splendid genus remain to be introduced, especially from Brazil and Peru, and 

 would well repay any amount of labour expended in obtaining them, for they arc as 

 easily cultivated as the Suhralias^ and more compact in their habit. 



Descr. Stems from an underground root of tufted, fleshy fibres, several together, 



r 



stiff, a foot to eigliteen inches high, cylindrical. Lcavn alternate on the upper part of 

 the stem, three to four indues long, linear-oblong, semi-amplexicaul, acute, very glossy- 

 green, nerves very indistinct, not reticulated. Flowers five to eight, in a terminal spike, 

 three inches in diameter, of a fine light red-purplr colour. Jiracts small, ovate, acute. 

 Ovary one inch long. Cahjnihts very short, shortly six-toothed. Sej)nh one to one and 

 a quarter inch long, lincar-ol^long, tlie dorsal a little obovate. l^dch as long, but 



