AERIDES EXPANSUM LEONID. 



[Plate 328.] 



J^ative of BurmaJi. 



Epiphytal. Stem erect, stout, clothed with broad distichous leaves, and bearing 

 near the base numerous stout aerial roots. Leaves distichous,- broadly ligulate, 

 channelled at the base, prsemorse and niucronate at the apex, coriaceous in texture, 

 and deep green. Peduncle axillary, bearing a dense, pendulous, many-flowered 

 raceme, a foot or more in length. Floivers large and showy, the lip being 

 much expanded ; sepals and petals oblong obtuse, apiculate, the lateral sepals much 

 the broadest, white suffused with delicate rose, tipped with rosy purple, and bearin 

 on their surface a few scattered dots of the same colour ; lip three-lobed, flat an 

 •spreading, lateral lobes obtusely falcate, middle lobe large, obovate, serrate on the 

 •edge, ground colour white, striped along the centre with rosy purple, where it 

 joins a broad marginal band of the same colour, which extends all round the lobe. 



Aerides EXPANSUM Leoni^, Reichenbach Jil., Biilletino Societa Toscana di 

 Orticultura, Anno x., t. 14 ; Williams, Orchid-Groiver's Manual, 6 ed., p. 101. 



Aerides are remarkable for their elegant contour, their fine opposite leathery 

 green foliage rendering them exceedingly attractive, even when not in bloom. When 

 well grown they produce their racemes of fragrant flowers in great abundance, and 

 disseminate a delicious odour, which perfumes the whole house in which they are 

 grown, and always enchants those who delight in scented flowers. The variety we 

 have now under consideration is a most beautiful one. It was flowered, fixst by 

 H. J. Eoss, Esq., Castagnola, Lastra h. Signa, Italy, and named by Professor 

 Reichenbach, who considers it thoroughly distinct from A. expansum. We are 

 extremely sorry that fashion has condemned these East Indian Orchids, and that 

 Aerides are not more extensively grown, as they are free in habit, and easily 

 cultivated ; moreover, they do not require the amount of heat that is generally 

 thought necessary to maintain them in vigour. We, ourselves, keep them during 

 the winter months at a night temperature of about 60°. In spring and summer 



the sun will cause the houses to become hotter, and then these plants enjoy a 

 ■considerable amount of moisture in the atmosphere. 



For the subject of our drawing, we are indebted to the kindness of F. G. 

 Tautz, Esq., Goldhawk Eoad, Shepherd's Bush, in whose admirably-groTVTi coUcction 

 it flowered in the month of July last year. Aerides expansum Leomce is a 

 splendid variety, producing from the axils of the leaves its racemes of bloom in 

 profusion, which attain the length of a foot or more. The sepals and petals are 



