SCHOMBURGKIA UNDULATA. 



{Plate 335.] 



J^ative of Venezuela, Caracas, and Kew Grenada 



Epiphytal. Fseudohulhs stout, fusiform, from nine inches to a foot long, clothed 

 with large membraneous sheaths when immature, becomin<T wrinkled with acre. 



j^ ..-„.. ..^ — -Q 



Leaves mostly in pairs ; these are oblong, thick and coriaceous in texture, and from 

 six to nine inches long. Scape terminal, from two to five feet in length, support- 

 ing a dense raceme of flowers, each of which is upwards of an inch and a half 

 in ^ diameter. Sepals and petals about equal, linear-oblong, much undulated and 

 twisted, of a deep purplish red, shaded with brown ; lip three-lobed, the side lobes 

 oblong, erect, arching over the column, rosy purple, middle lobe cordate apiculate, 



purple, bearing on the disc five raised white ridges. Colum7i broad, winged, 

 purple. 



ScHOMBUEGKiA UNDULATA, Lindley, Botaiucal Register, 1844, misc. 21 ; Id. 

 Botanical Register, 1845, t. 53 ; Linden's Fescatorea, 18G0, t. 32 ; War)ier's 

 Select Orchidaceous Plants, ii., t. 21. 



Bletia UNDULATA, Reichenhach flL, Xeiiia Orchidacea^ ii., p. 49. 



Schomhurgkia is a small genus of Orchids, of which, however, only a few are 

 known as cultivated plants. The species here depicted flowered for the first time in 

 this country in the then famous Euckerian collection, at Wandsworth, in the year 

 1844. It was originally discovered by M. Linden, in the year 1841, growing on 

 rocks in the neighbourhood of Truxillo, in Venezuela, where it is known by the 

 name of Mulattita; on account of the undulations of the sepals and petals 

 resembling the curly hair of the mulattos. It was also found by the same 

 traveller, later on, near the natural bridge of Icononzo, in New Grenada, growing 

 upon rocks at 2,400 feet elevation, its long flower spikes waving gently in the air. 

 Wagener, another of the earlier collectors, also found this species near Caracas, so 

 that it appears to have a wide distribution. This plant has at various times 

 been sent to this country in large masses, but they realise such a small amount 

 of money that it does not sufiice to pay the trouble of collecting, independent of 

 the charges for freight. It is, however, a species well deserving more extended 



cultivation, where space exists for its accommodation, and thrives well in baskets 

 suspended from the roof, where it can obtain the maximum of light. The plant 

 here figured was sent to us by P. Lioyd, Esq., Lough ton, in whose collection it 

 bloomed this year, under the care of Mr. Daniels, the gardener. 



Schomhurgkia iindulata is an evergreen plant, with fusiform stems, a foot or 



more high, bearing lively green, leathery leaves, which are from six to eight 



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