AERIDES VIRENS ELLISII 



[Plate 298.] 



J^ative of Java. 



An erect-growing epipliyto with a somewhat stout stem, from which are pro- 

 duced, at intervals, numerous thick and fleshy w^iite eerial roots. • Leaves arranged 

 in a two-ranked manner (distichous), broadly ligulate, obliquely notched at the 

 apex, somewhat channelled at the base, thick and leathery in texture, and of a 

 peculiar light green colour. Racemes pendant and many- flowered, some eighteen 

 or twenty inches long. Flotvers deliciously fragrant ; dorsal sepal obovate obtuse, 

 the lateral sepals being very much the broadest, ground-colour delicate soft 

 French white, suflfused with rose, and tipped with bright amethyst ; petals oblong- 

 cuneate, smaller than the lateral sepals, but resembling them in colour; Up cucullate, 

 inflated, incurved, prolonged into a stout incurved acuminate horn, which is creamy 

 white flushed with rose, and tipped with greenish brown, lateral lobes obtuse, denti- 

 culate on the upper edge, freckled with lines and dots of amethyst towards the 

 base ; front lobe bearing in the middle an inflated, serrated tongue of a rich deep 

 amethyst. 



Aerides VIRENS, Lincll., Botanical Register, 1843, misc. 48; Id. 1844, t 41; 

 Paxton's Magazine, xiv., 197; Orchid Album, iv., t. 160; Williams, Orchid- 

 Groiver's Manual, 6 ed., p. 110. 



h 



Aerides VIRENS Ellisii, Williams, Orchid-Grower'' s Manual, 6 ed., p. 111. 



In general habit and appearance, the majority of Aerides resemble Vandas, 



although for the most part their flowers are very distinct ; they are all Eastern 

 plants, which, in a state of nature, are found clinging to the stems and branches 



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of trees, or upon rocks, and the greater portion of them produce showy and 

 fragrant flowers. 



Although Aerides at the present time are not so extensively cultivated as they 

 used to be in the early days of Orchid growing, they are, nevertheless, among 

 the handsomest Orchids which have yet been introduced to our notice. Their 

 beauty as ornamental foliage plants, even when out of flower, is well known to 

 those who have had the good fortune to possess a collection of tliese plants. ^^^e 

 hope that the introduction during the last few years of such fine novelties as 

 A. Laivrencice, A. Houlletianum, and other kinds, may cause a taste to again 

 spring up for them. We are indebted to the kindness of Captain Shaw, of 

 Whitehall, Buxton, Derbyshire, for the opportunity of figuring this beautiful plant, 

 which has bloomed with him for several years. 



Aerides virens JEllisii is a very great improvement on the tjrpical plant ; the 

 habit of growth is altogether stronger and the spikes very much longer. The 



