PERISTERIA EL AT A 



[Plate 327.] 



F 



J^ative of Panama. 



A terrestrial plant, with broadly ovate, bright green pseudobulbs, the size of a 

 swan's egg, bearing on their summit several broadly lanceolate, plicate leaves, which 

 are contracted into a petiole below; they are from three to five feet in height, and 

 about six_ inches in breadth, bright green. Scape erect, attaining a height %f from 

 four to six feet, issuing from the side of the pseudobulb near its base, and bearing 

 a long raceme of from ten to twenty or more showy, globose, fragrant flowers, each 



of which is furnished at the base of the pedicel with a large, ovate acuminate bract. 

 Sepals broadly ovate, obtuse, concave, thick, and of a waxy consistency; petals 

 similar, but smaller, all of a waxy whiteness, freckled with a few crimson dots on 

 the outside ; lip three-lobed, obovate, truncate, thick and fleshy, lateral lobes erect, 

 white, dotted with crimson, middle lobe concave and inflexed. Column dilated, 

 bearing two large fleshy "wdngs. 



Peristekia elata. Hooker, Botanical Magazine, t. 3116; Revue Horticole, 1876, 

 t. 133; Id., 1877, t. 110; Floral Magazine, k.s., t. 44; Jennings' OrcTdds, t. 44; 

 Williams, Orchid-Growei^ s Manual, 6 ed., p. 512, with woodcut. 



Peristeria is a genus wliicli contains only a few species, but the one here 

 figured is the noblest of them alL It is a most interesting plant, and is found 

 growing wild in the neighbourhood of Panama, where it luxuriates and produces 

 magnificent spikes of bloom in great abundance. The column of the flower presents 

 a striking resemblance to a dove with expanded wings ; hence it is known in its 

 native country by the name of El Spirito Santo (the Holy Ghost or Dove Plant), 

 and by the latter name it is familiarly known in cultivation. We were pauch 

 interested w^ith this plant when first it bloomed with us, now nearly forty years 

 ago, at wdiich time we staged it in a collection of Orchids, which was exhibited 

 both at the Koyal Horticultural Society's Gardens, Chiswick and at the Eoyal 

 Botanic Society's Gardens, Eegent's Park, in the months of June and July, which 

 is an unusual time for it to flower, as it generally blooms in August and 

 September. It is a very old inhabitant of our stoves, having been first introduced 

 about the year 1832, and it is a very popular plant at the present time. It thrives 

 best when- associated with, other stove plants. 



The plant here represented was grown in a mixed collection of stove plants 

 and Orchids in the establishment of Mrs. Kerr, Gallow Hill, Paisley, N.B. 

 It was a very fine specimen, with nine spikes, each bearing twenty-five splendid 

 flowers and buds. Mr. Mclver, the gardener, says that he had treated it in the 



