TRICHOPILIA LEPIDA. 
[PLaTE 197. | 
Native of Costa Rica. 
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs oblong obtuse compressed, dark green, two inches high, 
invested by a few ovate acute scales, about as long as the bulbs. Leaves solitary, 
obovate-oblong or ligulate acute, channelled, leathery, dark green. Peduncles deflexed, 
with ovate lanceolate boat-shaped sheathing bracts, from the upper of which the 
flowers emerge. lowers about four-and-a-half inches in expansion, with starry sepals 
and petals, and prominent fimbriated lip; dorsal sepal two-and-a-half inches long, 
linear lanceolate acute, erect, pale wine-red or rosy lilac, with a narrow irregular 
border of white; the Jateral ones directed downwards, about the same length, but © 
united at the base for about three-fourths of an inch, the free portion slightly 
divergent, strongly and bluntly keeled behind, the colouring similar; petals about 
the same length, bluntly keeled behind at the base, linear-lanceolate, very slightly 
broader than the sepals, of a rather deeper rose the colour breaking into spots, 
the irregular white border broader and more distinct; lip two-and-a-half inches 
long, the basal half inch folded up close over the column and claw-like, the front 
portion one-and-a-half inch broad, quadrate-oblong, three-lobed, the lateral lobes 
broad, erect, rounded, undulated, with a bright purple-crimson throat, the central 
lobe deeply parted into two broad rounded undulated segments, the whole central 
area being of a deeper purplish rose, and having a broad irregular edging of white, 
more or less blotchy inwards. Column reaching just beyond where the lobes 
expand to display the throat, terete below, green at the base, the upper projecting 
end white, with a broad three-lobed fimbriated hood. 
TRICHOPILIA LEPIDA, Hort. Veitch; Floral Magazine, 2 ser., t. 98; Gardeners’ 
Chronicle, N.8., ii., 779. 
In this small genus of Orchids the formation of the: flowers is very curious, 
and the way in which the plants send forth their blossoms is also peculiar. There 
are several distinct species, most of which are beautiful objects when in _ blossom. 
Amongst the more striking of these we may mention J. crispa, T. tortilis, T. suavis, 
and 7. coccinea, but the one of which we now submit a figure is the most charming 
of them all. It produces its flower spikes from the base of the pseudobulbs in 
great profusion, and the flowers, neatly overhanging the pot, give the plant a most 
charming appearance, as, indeed, may be to some extent realised by the accompanying 
plate. The various species all grow in the same way. We are indebted to 
H. Shaw, Esq., of Corbar, Buxton, for the specimen we have here pourtrayed, the 
plant having bloomed several times in his collection. We ourselves have seen but 
a few specimens of this grand species, — 
c 
