CALANTHE MASUCA. 
[Puare 354.] 
Native of Nepal and Sikkim. 
Terrestrial. Leaves large, oblong-lanceolate, tapering below, acuminate, much plaited, 
and deep green. Scape erect, larger than the leaves, terete, glabrous, and bearing on 
the summit a many-flowered raceme of beautiful purple flowers. Bracts large and 
membraneous. Sepals and petals nearly equal, oblong-acuminate, spreading, violet- 
purple, passing into lilac with age; lip three-lobed, rich violet-purple, lateral lobes 
sub-faleate, middle lobe sub-cuneate, the base prolonged into a long spur, and bi 
at the apex; the disc of the lip bears a five-crested tubercle, and the crests are 
furrowed transversely. 
CatantHe masuca, Lindley, Botanical Register, t. 37; Botanical Magazine, t. 
4541; Wight’s Icones Plantarum Indie Orientalis, iii., t. 918.; Lemaire’s Jardin 
Fleuriste, t. 62; Moore’s Illustrations of Orchidaceous Plants, t. 2; Bateman’s 
Second Century of Orchidaceous Plants, t. 139; Williams’ Orchid Grower's 
Manual, 6 ed., p. 162. 
This is one of the evergreen terrestrial Calanthes which has been in cultivation 
nearly fifty years, having first flowered in this country in 1842, in the nurseries of 
the late Messrs. Rollisson, at Tooting. The species of this section are somewhat 
numerous, and, at the same time, when in flower, their long erect spikes of bloom 
render them very attractive. Many of these evergreen species have been introduced 
for a very long time, and although in the early days of Orchid culture it is said 
to have been “one of the most difficult of orchidaceous plants to grow well,” this 
has never been our experience with this species. We have figured Calanthe colorans 
in the fifth volume of this work, plate 218; this is a handsome, dwarf-growing, white- 
flowered species. C. Dominii is a pretty plant with light purple flowers; it is a 
garden hybrid obtained in the nurseries of Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, 
Chelsea, and curiously enough, some time ‘afterwards a seedling form appeared under 
the name of C. Mylamii, in the nurseries of Messrs. Rollisson and Sons, of Tooting, 
the latter name becoming a synonym, as it proved to be the same as the 
Veitchian plant. C. veratrifolia, a white-flowered form, is at once one of the most 
beautiful and useful Orchids for home decoration and for exhibition purposes, but to 
render it effective when used on the public exhibition table, the flowers require to 
be well packed, as upon the slightest bruise they turn black and become unsightly ; 
but as it has noble foliage and very large racemes of bloom of the purest white, 
which remain in full perfection for a period of between three or four months, 
