t% 



Plate 131. 



CATTLEYA MAXIMA. 



I 



Largest CatMeya. 



J 



Gen. Char. {Vide su^ra^ Plate 108.) 



Cattley A maxima ; pseudobulbis clayatis elongatis alte snlcatiSj foliis subemarginatis basi sub- 

 latioribus, pedunculo 2-3-(pluri-)floro, spatba ancipiti longiorej sepab's lanceolatis petn- 



un 



voluto apice explanato oblongo subcrispato-lobato per axm lEevissimo. LinJL 



Cattleya maxima. Lindl. Gen. et Sj). Orchid. ;p. 116. Bot, Beg, 18U, sub t. 5. Jounu of ilio 

 Bod. Soc. V. 1. Part L p. 64. Bot. Beg. 1846, v. 32. t. 1. Bot. Mag. t. 4902. 



This very fine specimen was flowered in the autumn of 1855, by the late W. G. 

 Farmer, Esq., of Nonsuch Parl^, Surrey. There cannot be the smallest doubt of its 

 specific identity with Cattleya maxima, figured and described by Dr. Lindlcy from 

 Hartweg's Plants, and which is a native of Guayaquil and Columbia. It evidently 

 approaches both C. Mossiw and lahiata in many important particulars, its main pecu- 

 liarities consisting in its long-channelled pseudobulbs, and its very convex wavy petals, 

 which are quite different in appearance from the thin, nearly flat petals of C. Mussim 

 and lahiata, which are also considerably wider. Mr. Farmer's plant bore seven fully- 



few had produced 



formed flowers on the spike, the labellum was of a pale colour, almost white, with an 

 orange-yellow streak on the disc, the latter being elegantly reticulated with purple 

 veins. The sepals and petals are paler in colour than those figured by Dr. Lintlley, 

 and these again are much inferior both in size and colour to some specimens lately 

 imported by Messrs. Backhouse from Peru, among which not a 

 upwards of a dozen flowers on a scape. 



Cattleya maxima requires rather less heat than the other members of the genus, 

 but will scarcely succeed in what are called " cool-orchid houses." It usually makc^ 

 two growths in a year, from one or both of which flowers are produced in October and 

 November. 



I^ESCii. Pseudobulbs clustered, forming a terete or slightly compressed shm, a foot 

 or more long, sheathed with long, membranaceous, striated scales, and termmatcrl hy a 

 single, oblong, coriaceous lea/, eight or ten inches long, and from two to three broad. 



