VANDA CRISTATA. 



[Plate 290.] 



Kaiive of J^epal and Bliotan. 



V 



4 



Epiphytal. Stem slender, erect, producing numerous flesliy roots. Leaves two- 

 ranked (distichous), imbricating at the base, broadly linear, channelled above, sharply 



carinate 



ty 



one 



beneath, prsemorse and tridentate at the ends, from five to six inches long, 

 inch broad, coriaceous in texture, and deep green in colour. Raceme 



axillary, scarcely as long as the leaves, and bearing from four to six flowers, which 

 measure about two inches in breadth ; sepals and 'petals similar, incurved, and some- 

 wdiat concave, the former slightly broadest, and all of a uniform yellowish green 

 hue ; lip three-lobed, broadly oblong, lateral lobes small, acute, middle lobe somewhat 

 saccate ; spur short and conical ; the apex of the lip is ornamented with three 



rich velvety yellow, streaked aiKl 



Anther- case 



stout cylindrical points, the upper surface is 



variegated with deep purj^lish black. Cohimn short, thick, and fleshy. 



hemispherical. 



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Vanda ctjstata, Lindl., Sertum Orchidaceum, f. 3, in frontispiece ; Wallich's 



Catalogue, n. 7328 ; Lindley's Geneixi and Species 



Orchidaceous Plants, n, 9 



Botanical Register, 1842, t. 48 ; Botaniccd Magazine, t. 4304 ; Moore s Illustrations 



of Orchidaceous Plants — Vanda 3; Williams, Orchid-Grower's Manned, 6 cd., p. 

 601. 



The beautiful Vanda we here introduce to our readers has been an inhabitant 



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of our plant houses for nearly half a century ; it, nevertheless, still remains scarce, 

 and is but seldom met with in cultivation. Dr. "VVallich found it growing wild 



its beauty, describing 



it as 



upon trees in Nepal, and was much enraptured with 

 " flos excjuisitse pulchritudinis " ; whilst Griffith found it in similar positions in 

 Bhotan, near Chuka, and describes it in his Itinerary Notes, p. 203, as an Aerides 

 remarkable for smelling of cockroaches. Fine specimens of this species were exhibited 



at the Chiswick and Kegent's Park Horticultural Shows some thirty-five years ago. 

 Staged chiefly by the late Mrs. Lawrence, of Ealing Park, Middlesex, and the late 

 Sigismund Pucker, Esq., of Wandsworth, Surrey. It is not a very robust grower, 

 but it forms a very distinct and effective object in a collection, and is a very 

 pretty plant for a front row at a public exhibition. It must be admitted that 



plants, but still these lovely small- 



and Lselias are 



grand and effective 



flow-ered in the Victoria and 



growing species must not be overlooked or despised. 



The specimen from which our drawing w\as taken 

 Paradise Nurseries, in the month of April ; the plant was about fifteen inches 

 high, it bore four racemes of bloom, and from the base of the stem tw^o 



young 



growths were pushing up freely. There are different varieties of this Vanda, some 



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