LYCASTE GIGANTEA. 
[PLATE 408. ] 
Native of Central America. 
Sub-terrestrial. Pseudobulbs oblong-ovate, some four or six inches high, smooth 
and dark green, bearing a pair (sometimes three) oblong-lanceolate leaves, which 
are from one to two feet in length, much plaited, and deep green, Scape nine 
inches to a foot high, or sometimes more; one-flowered. Flower large, upwards of 
six inches across; sepals and petals nearly equal, linear, lanceolate, obtuse, the lateral 
sepals being slightly the larger and falcate, all of a yellowish olive-green; lip 
three-lobed, the lateral lobes erect, acute, and small, the front lobe panduriform 
and recurved at the tip, the whole of the front lobe being of a rich velvety 
maroon, with a marginal border of mauve-orange, and at the base is an emarginate 
hard fleshy substance, the outer edge ciliolate. 
LycasTe GicANTEA, Lindley, Botanical Magazine, t. 5616; Botanical Register, 
1845, t. 34; Williams’ Orchid Grower’s Manual, 6 ed., p. 378. 
MaxituaRiA Heynperycxu, Morren, Annales de Gand, 1845, t. 9. 
The species we have now under consideration is a somewhat old inhabitant of 
our stoves, having been introduced by M. Linden, of Brussels, a little more than 
forty years ago, from the forests in Merida, where he found it growing at no 
great altitude; the species had, however, been previously found by Purdie, in Santa 
Martha, and also by Hartweg, in Central America Our first knowledge of the plant 
was from a specimen which flowered with us in 1856, and this plant was said to 
have been brought from Guayaquil, so that the species would appear to be widely 
distributed naturally, as a consequence of which there are to be found considerable 
variations in size and colour of the flowers. It cannot be called a very gay- 
coloured species, especially when compared with some of this genus, but its large 
flowers are very distinct and beautiful, commending itself to the attention of all 
lovers of Orchidaceous plants. Our artist’s drawing was taken from a plant in the 
collection of H. Tate, Esq., Allerton Beeches, Allerton, Liverpool, in March last. 
Lycaste gigantea is a bold-growing evergreen plant, with large and stout bulbs, 
bearing from the top two or three deeply plaited leaves, which sometimes exceed two 
feet in length, the colour being rich deep green; the scape is erect, bearing a 
single large flower, which varies considerably in size, but less in colour. 
‘There are some varieties, however, much darker than others, the usual colour for 
the sepals and petals being yellowish olive-green, with the lip of a more or less 
dark maroon of a velvety appearance, and this is bordered round the margin with 
