MESOSPINIDIUM VULCANICUM. 



[Plate 317.] 



Kative of Eastern Peru. 



Epiphytal Pseiulohulhs ovoid, compressed, somewhat two-edged, and deep green, 

 about two inches hi^h, and an inch to an inch and a half broad. Leaves oblono-. 



obtuse, carinate beneath , from five to 



qu 



of 



an 



unilateral, bearing from 

 Bracts 



ch to an inch and a half wide, dark 



twenty flowers, which are 



ght inches in length, and about three 



ten to 

 ovate-lanceolate, thin and 



gi' 



mbraneous, and about 



ovary ; sepals and petals spreading 



oblon 



a brig 



of 



colum 



lobe larger, emai 



rt 



Raceme nodding 

 irly two inches across. 

 If the length of the 

 nearly eq ual , and all 



rosy crimson ; lip three-lobed, lateral lobes flat, not enclosing the 



rotundate, rosy crimson, faintly stained^ at th 



nnate in front, and toothed on the ed 



b 



of the 



with yell 



same brig 



middle 

 it rosy 



with a four-keeled callus. 



cnmson hue as the petals, but becoming paler on the disc, which is ornamented 



Column toothed at the apex, w^hite. 



Mesospinidium a^ulcanicum, Reichenhach fil ) Gardeners' Chronicle, 1872, p. 393; 

 Botanical Magazine, t. 6001; The Garden, 1882, t. 334; Williams, Orchid-Grower's 

 Manual, 6 ed,, p. 407. 



AA^e owe the discovery of this plant to the celebrated ttaveller, Spruce, who 

 spent so many years in the exploration of the Valley of the Amazon, and whose 

 name is so well known in connection with the introduction of the Quinine or 

 Fever-bark plants (Cinchonas) from Peru into our Indian Territories. Mesospinidium 

 vidcaniciim was discovered by Spruce on the volcanic mountains of the Tunguragua, 

 a district of the Upper Amazon, about the year 1860, but it w^as not introduced to 



this country, in a 



living state, 



till some ten or twelve years later ; in the 



interim another species (M. sanguineiim) had been sent home from the Andes 

 of Peru, and become established in our gardens. This M. sangiiinenm , 



although 



a pretty graceful plant, especially when grown in a hanging basket, as in 

 such a position its drooping racemes of flower are seen to the best advantage, is 

 decidedly much inferior to the plant whose portrait we now lay before our readers, 

 a glance at which, will at once convince them of the accuracy of our statement. 

 Our drawing represents the very best form that has hitherto come under our 

 notice; the plant flowered with us, in the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, for two 

 years in succession ; the last season bearing five spikes of flowers, from one of 

 which the present illustration was taken, since that time the plant has passed into 

 the rich collection of E. H. Measures, Esq., of Streatham. We have also noted a 

 very fine form in the collection of D. Tod, Esq., Eastwood Park, Glasgow, where 

 it is grown w^ith the Odontoglossums, and flowers freely every year. 



I 



