PHALAINOPSIS SPECIOSA. 
[Puate 158.] 
Native of the Andaman Islands. 
Epiphytal.. Acaulescent or with very short stems, the crown furnished with 
greenish flexuose roots. Leaves few, tufted, drooping, cuneate-oblong, blunt and 
slightly emarginate, six to eight inches long, slightly seven-nerved, of a palish 
green colour. Peduwnele axillary, bearing a drooping raceme about as long as the 
leaves. Flowers showy, some five or six in the raceme, each about one and _three- 
quarter inch across, stellately spreading ; sepals oblong acute, the dorsal one magenta, 
indistinctly longitudinally striate, the lateral ones also striate, and closely marked, 
in addition, with parallel transverse bands of the same colour, the outer surface blotched 
in a similar way but with the colour less clearly defined; petals about the same 
m size and form, of a similar magenta hue, marked with the longitudinal strie 
only; lip narrow oblong in outline, three-lobed, the front lobe purple, fleshy, nearly 
ancipitous, the apex furnished with a cushion of thread-like filaments, the lateral 
lobes orange-yellow, erect, ligulate retuse, with a few teeth on the outer side, the 
upper of which “is largest. Column short, narrowed below, greenish white, the 
anther-bed toothletted., | 
; PHAL&NopsIs SPECIOSA, Lteichenbach fil., in Gardeners’ Chronicle, X. 8., Xv., 562; 
Id., xviii., 302; 745, figs. 130, 131, 132 (varieties). : 
There can be no doubt as to the high position which Phalenopsis takes in the 
Orchid family. The genus is admitted on all sides to be among the most beautiful, 
including many fine species, of which, as opportunity offers, we hope to publish 
portraits. Our present illustration represents one of a group of smaller and newer 
kinds, quite distinct from the large-flowering species, like P. amabilis, P. grandiflora, 
P. Schilleriana, &c., which are among the most lovely of the genus. Several new 
- Species have of late years made their way into our stoves, and it is really 
astonishing that collectors in search of Orchids should continue to find novel and 
handsome kinds. No doubt there is a field yet open for discoveries. We have 
heard of a scarlet Phalenopsis, and we believe it is yet to be found, for some 
years ago a traveller told us he saw one, but he was not able to procure it, for 
the poor fellow never went back again. Plants, however, that he spoke of then, have 
since been brought home. Thus for many years we were only cognisant of the 
white-flowered P. amabilis, &c., then there came the mauve-coloured P. Schilleriana, 
and others, of which we were entirely ignorant; and therefore, we think, it may 
fairly be hoped that our energetic collectors will some day be fortunate enough to 
Secure the scarlet one, and this would indeed be a grand acquisition to our collections. 
