CATTLEYA WAGENEEI 



■f 



[Plate 295.] 



tN'ative of La Guayra. 



Epiphytal. Pseudohulhs oblong fusiform, iDccoming furrowed witli age, enclosed 

 in large membraneous sheaths, and bearing a single leaf on the summit, which is 



oblong obtuse, keeled beneath, thick and fleshy in texture, and rich deep green in 

 colour. Floivers spreading, between six and seven inches across ; sepals ligulato 

 acute, entire, pure white ; petals also pure white, much broader than the sepals, 

 elliptic ovate, margins prettily undulated towards the upper half; lip convolute at 

 the base, where it is rolled over the column, the front portion obovate and 

 emarginate, beautifully crispate round the margin, pure white, saving a rich stain of 

 orange-yellow in the throat, which is traversed with some radiating lines of a paler 

 yellow. Column included, clavate and semi-terete. 



Cattleya ^ACr^^^m^, ■ Reichenhach Jil., Bonplandin, ii., t. 1, No. 152; Id., 

 Xenia OrchidacecB, i., t. 13; Williams, Orchid-Groiuer's Mamial, 6 ed., p. 207. 



The grand Cattleya which we now have the pleasure to introduce to our 

 readers was first discovered by Herr Wagener in 1851 in Caracas, at an altitude 

 of 4,000 feet ; it is one of the most distinct and chaste kinds yet introduced. 

 We believe that it first flowered in this country with the Messrs. Backhouse, of 

 York, and afterwards with the Messrs. Jackson, of Kingston, who exhibited a fine- 

 grown plant of it at the Eoyal Botanic Society's Show in Regent's Park, June 20th, 

 1857. At that time it was very rare, and it remained so for many years; 

 whilst even now it is still scarce, altliough it now and again occurs amongst large 

 imported batches of Cattleya Mossiw. But only a few have made their appearance 

 in this country, by which we infer it is by no means abundant in its native wilds ; 

 therefore the specimens that have been imported have always realised high prices. 

 Our drawing was taken from a plant which flowered at the Victoria and Paradise 

 Nurseries in the early summer of the present year. We noted that the yellow 

 on the upper part of the lip is rather deeper than is usually to be found on 

 this plant, which produces a fine contrast to the pure white of the sepals and petals. 



Cattleya Wageneri is a wonderfully fine and free-growing plant ; also a profuse 

 bloomer, producing three flowers upon a spike. The leaves are oblong and blunt- 

 pointed, sharply keeled beneath, thick and coriaceous in texture, and lively shining 

 green in colour. The individual flowers are some seven inches across; sepals and 

 petals pure white ; lip also white, stained in the upper part and throat with rich 

 yellow, and prettily lobed and frilled round the edge. Its season of flowering is 

 May and June, and the blooms continue in perfection for three and four weeks if 



