CATTLEYA MENDELII JAMESIANA. 
[PuaTE 178. | 
Native of New Grenada. 
Epiphytal. Stems short, clavate as in the type, monophyllous. Leaves ligulate- 
oblong, emarginate, of leathery texture, channelled near the base. Peduncles two- 
flowered, issuing from an oblong bluntish compressed sheath. Flowers large, six and 
a half inches across, very showy; sepals lanceolate, entire, three-fourths of an inch 
wide, of a deep blush, or dilute rosy lilac; petals broadly ovate, slightly undulated, 
four and a half inches wide, of the same colour as the sepals, but ‘‘ marked at the 
tips with a bright magenta stripe, widest towards the upper end”; lip three inches 
long, and two inches across the mouth of the basal portion, which is folded over 
the column, where it is pale yellowish white; the expanded front lobe roundish 
i outline, deeply bipartite, the apical two-thirds forming a solid blotch of rich 
dense magenta or amethyst, the upper portion richly shaded orange-yellow, becoming 
le or whitish yellow at the edge, which is everywhere elegantly frilled; from the 
lotch of magenta several lines of the same colour pass down the central portion, 
in 
: magenta veins are produced on each side. Column as 
the type. 
6 d 19, | = AMESIANA, To o3 Williams, Orchid Growers Manual, 
e id 0. ‘ 
We have no hesitation in saying, that of the genus Cattleya, the varieties of 
the Mendelii section rank among the finest of the family. The species has only 
been in the country a few years, the original one having been flowered by Messrs. 
Backhouse and Messrs. Low, and named after the late Sam Mendel, Hsq., who 
had a Magnificent collection. Since then large importations have been — by our 
energetic collectors, which have added greatly to the number of varieties in . 
“olours, from pure white to the brightest magenta-rose and magenta-crimson, nearly 
all intermediate Shades of colour baie represented. They are free-growing as well 
as free-blooming plants. : + catifal 
d = variety we now illustrate, Cuttleya Mendel St amesvand, 18 7 oe eal 
and’ showy one. Our artist made his drawing from a finely grown P — ie 
collection of My. James, nurseryman, Lower Norwood, after whom a cf if 
sea, Dame. Cattleya Mendelii Jamesiana is an evergreen a 
Pseudobulbs, and oblong emarginate foliage about fifteen ine 
