33 
200) 
PL. CCCHI. 
PHALAENOPSIS VIOLACEA Teysm. 
THE VIOLET PHALAENOPSIS. 
PHALAENOPSIS. Vide Lindenia, Englived.; 1, p.. 21. 
Phalaenopsis violacea. Folia elliptico- v. obovato-oblonga, obtusa v. subacuta, coriacea, viridia. Scapi breves, 
2-6- flori. Flores speciosi. Sepala oblongo-lanceolata, acuta v. subacuminata, lateralia paullo latiora. Petala similia, 
paullo breviora et latiora. Labellum trilobum, lobis lateralibus angustis truncatis medio obovato-oblongo apiculato carnoso 
carinato laevi basi bidentato. Columna clavata. 
Phalaenopsis violacea TEYsM. ex WITTE in Fl. Fard. Roy. des Pays-Bas, IV (1861), p. 129, cum tab, — 
TEyYsM. et BINN. in Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind., XXIV, p. 320. — Gard. Chron., 1878, pt. 2, p. 116, et p. 507. — Id., 
1881, pt. I, pp. 144, 145, fig. 32. — Fl. Mag., n. s., 1879, t. 342. — Warn. & WILL. Orchid Album, IV, 
t. 182. — RoLFE in Gard. Chron., 1886, pt. 2, p. 277. — Hook. F. Fl. Brit. Ind., V1, p. 29. — Vetrcu Man, 
Orch. Pl., pt. 7, pp. 41, 42, cum xyl. 
Stauritis violacea Reus. F. in Hamb. Gartenz., 1862, p. 31. 
Var, bellina Reus. ¥F. in Gard. Chron., 1884, pt. 2, p. 262. 
Var. Bowringiana Rcus. F., l. c., p. 262. 
Var. chloracea RcuB. F., l. ¢., p. 262. 
Var. Murtoniana Rcup. F. in Gard. Chron., 1878, pt. 2, p. 234. 
Var. punctata Reus. F. in Gard. Chron., 1884, pt. 2, p. 262. 
Var, Schréderi Ropicas in Ill. Hort., XXXU, p. 173, t. 576. 
Var. Schréderiana Reus. F. in Gard. Chron., 1882, pt. 2, p. 680. 
his elegant little Phalaenopsis appears to have been originally discovered 
by M. Tersman, near Palembang, in Sumatra, and was sent by him in 
1859, both to the Botanic Garden at Leyden, and also to the collection 
A M. Vinee: at Amsterdam. It was originally described by M. Wirre, super- 
intendent of the Leyden garden, where it flowered for the first time in Europe 
in 1861. For some time it appears to have been lost sight of, until it was sent by 
Mr. Murton, of the Singapore Botanic Garden, to Mr. M. H. Wituas, of Tredrea, 
in Cornwall, in whose collection it flowered in 1878. A plant from the same 
source also flowered with Messrs James Verrcu & Sons, of Chelsea during the 
following year. In 1881 the last named firm received a consignment of plants 
from southern Sumatra, where they were detected by Mr. C. Curtis, then collect- 
ing for the firm, in the hot damp forests of Palembang, growing on the trunks 
of trees overhanging streams and water-courses, sometimes associated with 
P. sumatrana. 
It is now well known in cultivation, and has proved very variable in the 
colour of its flowers, which range from an almost uniform violet shade down to 
cream-white, with the segments somewhat barred and spotted in some of the 
varieties. In the light-coloured varieties, however, the front lobe of the lip usually 
. 
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