BRASSAVOLA GLAUCA. 
: [PLare 416.] 
Native of Mexico and Guatemala. 
Epiphytal.  Pseudobulbs produced from a_ stout creeping “rhizome, these are 
some four inches in length, compressed, bearing a single oblong, obtuse leaf on 
the summit, which is thick and leathery in texture, very glaucous, and from 
three to six inches in length. Pedunele erect, about as long as the leaf, 
issuing from a_ small compressed sheath on the top of the pseudobulb, and 
bearing a single large flower, which is delicately fragrant. Flowers three 
to four inches across; sepals and petals nearly equal, lanceolate in outline, and 
obtuse, of a soft pale green hue; lip cordate, acute, waved at the edges, white, 
marked in the throat in some instances with lines of pinkish lilac. Column 
short and_ stout. 
BRassavota GLAuca, Bateman, Orchids of Mexico and Guatemala, t. 16; 
Botanical Register, 1840, t. 44: Botanical Magazine, t. 4033; Hooker's Century 
of Orchids, t. 22; Williams’ Orchid Grower's Manual, 6th ed., p. 149. 
BieTia GLauca, Reichenbach fil., Xenia Orchidacew ii., p. 50. 
Laiia eLauca, Bentham et Hooker, Genera Plantarum, iii., p. 584, 
This is one of the old Orchids in English gardens, having been _ first 
introduced by Hartweg from Xalapa upwards of fifty years ago, and subsequently 
it was found in Guatemala by Mr. Skinner growing upon oak trees in company 
with other Orchids. It is a plant which has never become popular with the 
majority of English Orchid-growers, probably through lack of colour in its flowers, 
but it has frequently been found to exist in collections where it had never been 
known to bloom, and this, probably, more through neglect than from any other 
cause; indeed, we flower the plant annually, and therefore cannot accept the 
dictum that it is difficult to bloom, provided the plant is kept in good health, 
and is sufficiently strong to produce flowers. There is, moreover, a Teason why 
the growth of this plant should be encouraged, flowering as it does in the months 
of February and March: it becomes an excellent subject for crossbreeding, and for 
those having any enthusiasm on this subject, should be seized upon with avidity ; 
indeed, we persuaded Mr. Osborne, when in the service of H. J. Buchan, Esq., of 
Southampton, to cross Sophronitis grandiflora with this plant, which | was done, and 
the plants are, we believe, growing from these seeds. This, we imagine, should 
produce a showy and popular flower. The specimen from which our plate was 
produced was one grown in our own collection in the Victoria and Paradise 
