GRAMMATOPHYLLUM ELLISII. 
[PLate 147.] 
Native o { Madagascar. 
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs tufted, clavate-fusiform, compressed, marked towards the 
apex by the scars of the fallen leaves, and invested at the base by pale brown 
membranaceous bracts. Leaves numerous, produced from the apex of the bulbs, 
deciduous, broadly lorate obtuse. Scape radical, pendulous, bearing a broad raceme 
of showy blossoms of very curious form. Flowers numerous, yellow and_ reddish 
brown, twelve or more collected into a raceme, with pedicels one and a half to 
two inches long, each having a linear acute loose pallid green bract at its base; sepals 
ovate from a broad base, shortly acuminate, contorted, the dorsal one bent forwards, 
and having its sides turned up, the lateral ones gibbous at the base, spirally twisted, 
tawny yellow outside marked closely with transverse spottings of deep brown, 
inside of a brighter yellow, with more regular thickly-set transverse lines of bright 
reddish-brown, which become consolidated into a broader stripe near the apex ; petals 
oblong, twisted, half as long as the sepals, yellow at the base, with the spreading 
tips longitudinally streaked with red-brown for half their length; lip as long as 
the petals, sacculate at the base, three-lobed. with a stout median _ rib, separating 
beyond the isthmus into three short slender ridges, whitish, the ovate front lobe 
streaked with reddish purple and bent down on the basal half. Column incuryed, 
the anther crested with a small pedicellate tubercle. 
GRAMMATOPHYLLUM Ex.isi, Lindley, in Botanical Magazine, t. 5179; Flore des 
Serres, t. 1488; Bateman, Second Century of Orchidaceous Plants, t. 176. 
GRAMMANGIS ELList1, Richenbach fi., in Hamburger Gartenzeitung, xvi., 520; 
Id. Xenia Orchidacea, ii., 17. 
This is one of the most distinct of Orchids. It was brought home in 1859, 
by the late Rev. W. Ellis, of Hoddesdon, Herts, to whom we are indebted for the 
introduction of some other good plants from Madagascar, and in whose honour it is 
named, At that time it was a difficult matter to get the plants home in a living 
state, the transit service being very different to that of the present day. Grammato- 
phylum Ellisii is still rare; we believe it has been re-imported by Messrs. Low 
& Co., of Clapton, at whose establishment our artist made the drawing from which 
our present illustration is derived. 
Grammatophyllum Ellisii is a plant of deciduous habit, producing distinct-looking 
fusiform bulb-stems, and bearing foliage of a lively green colour. The drooping 
racemes which are many-flowered, are produced from the base of the bulbs at the 
same time they are making their young growths. The sepals and petals are of a 
