LYCASTE CRUENTA. 
[ PLATE 375.] 
Native of Guatemala. 
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs clustered, ovate, more or less wrinkled, deep green, 
when young enclosed in large membraneous sheaths, diphyllous. Leaves broadly 
oblong, large, plaited, and deep green. Peduncle radical, erect, some six inches high, 
bearing a single large flower, upwards of three inches across, more rarely two 
flowers are produced on the same stem. Sepals spreading, ovate, obtuse, fleshy in 
texture, of a uniform deep yellow inside, tinged with green on the exterior; petals 
smaller than the sepals, rich yellow; lip three-lobed, shorter than the sepals, side 
ae erect, rounded, anterior lobe recurved, yellow blotched with deep crimson at 
the base. 
LyYcAsTE CRUENTA, Lindley, Botanical Register, 1842, t. 18; Williams Orchid- 
Grower's Manual, p. 377. 
MAXILLARIA cRUENTA, Botanical Register, 1842, t. 138. 
Iycaste is a numerous genus of Orchids, formerly included with Mazxillaria. 
Amongst them there are many beautiful species and varieties, some of which have 
already been depicted in the pages of this work. The one we here bring to the 
notice of our readers is a very distinct and showy kind, nearly allied to 
L. aromatica, from which, however, it differs in its stronger bulbs and broader 
leaves, and its larger and more showy flowers. It is an old inhabitant of our 
plant stoves, having been introduced some fifty years ago. Formerly it was more 
extensively cultivated than at the present time; but we hope in future to see it 
become more prominent in our collections, as it is a profuse bloomer, and it produces 
numerous flowers from each bulb, which renders it very conspicuous and showy. 
The portrait of the plant we here represent was taken from a handsome specimen 
grown by Mr. Bunn, gardener to J. §. Daniels, Esq., Melford Lodge, Stamford Hill, 
Middlesex, where a very good collection of Orchids is congregated. 
Lycaste cruenta is a fine bold-growing species; the bulbs are ovate, supporting 
* pair of broadly plicate leaves of a light green. The flowers rise from the base 
a the bulb, the stem rising some six inches in height. It is usually one-flowered, 
ae a pair of flowers are produced upon the same scape, both opening 
A 7, and each measuring upwards of three inches across. The sepals are bright 
fie Inside and green without, petals smaller, of the same form, and of a 
“hg “ich yellow, the lip being three-lobed, and shorter than the sepals. It 
m the months of March, April, and. May, and it continues in bloom for 
