TRICHOPILIA HYMENANTHA. 
[PLatE 479]. 
Native of U. 8. Colombia, about Ocana. 
Epiphytal. Psewdobulbs quite wanting. Rhizome short. Leaves tufted, thick 
enveloped at the base in brown scarious sheaths, from six to nine inches long, and 
pale green. Pedunele slender, pendent, bearing a raceme of six or more flowers. 
Flowers an inch and a half across ;_ sepals and petals about equal, linear-lanceolate, 
spirally twisted, pure white ; hp broadly oval, flat, tapering to a point, coarsely fringed 
at the margin, the edge set round with close short teeth, white, freckled at the 
base with bright red spots. 
TRICHOPILIA HYMENANTHA, Reichenbach J, in Bonplandia, ii., p. 90. Xenia 
Orchidacea, i., t. 7. Walper’s Annales, vi., p- 679. Morren, Belgique Horticole, 
1874, p. 101. Hooker, Botanical Magazine, t. 5949. Williams’ Orchid Grower's 
Manual, 6th edition, p. 592. 
The present plant would not appear to have found great favour at the hands 
of the Orchid growers in this country, but we have more frequently observed this 
Species in the various continental collections ; indeed, Reichenbach records it as existing 
in the Schillerian collection forty years ago, and we ourselves saw it in the same 
collection thirty years ago, but it was not until some ten years later that we saw 
it flowering in the collection of Messrs. Veitch and Sons, of Chelsea. It appears 
to have been introduced by M. Linden, through his collector Schlim, and to have 
been disseminated through the continental collections before it came into our gardens. 
It is a delicate and beautiful little plant, not so large and showy as Trichopilia 
lepida, figured at Pl. 197, ZT. suavis alba, Pl. 14, nor Tf. tortilis, PI. 349, 
but it is quite exceptional and singular in being the only species of the 
genus in cultivation which is quite destitute of pseudobulbs. Trichopilias are found 
principally in the mountains of Central America, although there are one or two 
outlying species; they are distinguished by the curious tufts of hairs upon the 
summit of the column, which has led to the name, meaning “hairy cap,” and which 
suggested the name to Lindley, by whom the genus was established. Our present 
figure was taken in the fine collection of Orchids belonging to A. H. Smee, Esq., 
The Grange, Carshalton. 
Trichopilia hymenantha is a dwarf - growing plant, completely destitute of 
pseudobulbs, but having a short creeping rhizome; it also produces a pendent spike 
of bloom, and for these reasons we recommend our readers to grow it in a hanging 
