BATEMANNIA COLLEYI. 
[PuaTE 341. ] 
Native of Demerara. 
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs oblong, compressed, furrowed and quadrangular, some 
two inches high, scaly at the base, and deep purplish green in colour. Leaves 
mostly solitary, broadly lanceolate, acute, narrowing at the base, strongly ribbed, 
coriaceous in texture, and deep green. Scape short, nodding, issuing from the base 
of a young but mature pseudobulb. lowers large; sepals spreading, lateral ones much 
the longest, narrow, divergent, unguiculate ; petals and dorsal sepal almost equal, erect, 
concave, the tips slightly reflexed, oblique at base, adnate to the base of the column, 
all of greenish hue, suffused with purplish brown; lip erect, appressed to the 
column, three-lobed, oblong, white, dotted and streaked. with red, middle lobe 
notched in front. Column semi-terete, white freckled with red. 
BATEMANNIA COLLEY], Lindley, Botanical Register, xx., t. 1714; Botanical 
Magazine, t. 3818. 
The genus Batemannia was established by Lindley, to commemorate the botanical 
labours of Mr. James Bateman, of Knypersley Hall, Cheshire. Batemannia Colleyi 
was introduced to his country in the year 1834, and was the first species 
assigned to the family. This plant, has, however, been discarded from our 
collections for some years, and we had not thought it of sufficient importance to 
recommend to notice in the pages of the Orchid Growers’ Manual, for the plants 
we have usually seen of this species have had small blooms, and these have been 
dull in colour, quite unfit to recommend it to any one, saving those who grow a 
collection, and not a selection of Orchidaceous plants. This opinion, however, is 
materially changed since receiving the beautiful form which we now figure, and 
which will doubtless find many admirers for its distinct and curious outline, as well 
as for the beauty of its inflorescence. 
We are indebted for the representation of this plant to the kindness of F. 
G. Tautz, Esq., Studley House, Shepherd’s Bush, in whose collection it flowered in 
the early part of the present year, under the care of Mr. Cowley, the gardener. 
Batemannia Colleyi is a dwarf compact-growing plant, forming dark green 
bulbs about two inches high, and bearing similarly dark green leaves about eight 
inches long. The flowers are of a curious form, borne upon short spikes, which 
spring from the sides of the bulbs near their base, and which form a cluster round 
them; sepals and petals purplish brown, and the lip white, tinged with rose. 
Its flowering season is during the months of March and April, and the blossoms 
continue in beauty for a considerable time. 
Cc 
