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no28.. 
2259 
PL: CCCEIV. 
MILTONIA VEXILLARIA sewrx. var. VIRGINALIS norr. 
THE STANDARD MILTONIA, VIRGINAL VARIETY. 
MILTONIA. Vide Lindenia, Engl. ed., vol. III, p. 47. 
Miltonia vexillaria. Pseudobulbi parvi, anguste oblongi, compressi. Folia pedalia, lanceolato-linearia acuta. Scapi 
graciles, 4-6 flori. Flores maximi, plani, roseo suffusi, v. fere albidi. Sepala late obovato-oblonga, obtusa v. subacuta. 
Labellum maximum, orbiculare, apice bilobum, ima basi in unguem brevem contractum, ungue hastato angulis in 
cornua acuta adscendentia productis, disco paucicalloso. Columna brevissima, exalata. 
Miltonia vexillaria BENTH. in Fourn. Linn. Soc., XVIII, p. 327. — NICHOLSON Dict. Gard., pp- 368, 369, 
fig. 573. — Bull. Soc. Tosc. Ortic., 1889, t. 11. — Lindenia, V, p. 21, t. 201 (var. superba). — Reichenbachia, 
SCloR2 wel seD Ose ten 20s 
Odontoglossum vexillarium Reus. F. in Gard. Chron., 1867, p. 901. — ID., 1872, p. 667, fig. 163. — Ip., 
1873, p. 580, 644, fig. 123. — Bot. Mag., t. 6037. — Reus. F. Xen. Orch., I, p- 190, t. 182. — BATEM. Monogr. 
Odont., t. 29. — Ill. Hort., n. s., XX, p. 10, t. 113. — Revue Hort., 1876, p. 390, cum ic. — WARNER Sel. Orch., 
Il, t. 38. — Belg. Hort., XXX, p. 527, t. 14. — Fl. des Serves, t. 2058. — Fl. Mag., n. s., 1873, t. 73. 
iltonia vexillaria, the most beautiful and floriferous species in the genus, 
and one of the most popular of cool Orchids, was originally discovered 
by Bowman, on the western slopes of the Andes of New Granada, about 
the year 1866 or 1867. It was described in the latter year from a single dried 
flower, which came to Prof. Retcuensacu’s hands under somewhat peculiar 
circumstances. Next it was rediscovered by Watuis, when collecting for 
M. Linpen, but owing to the delay and difficulties of transmission, the plants 
failed to reach Europe alive; similar disappointment attended Rozzi, who was 
~commissioned by M. Linpen to collect it, in 1871. In 1872 ReICHENBACH wrote 
that this fairy of the primceval woods seemed doomed to certain destruction in 
the attempts to bring it to Europe alive. The first living plants were brought 
home by CuEsTERTON, in 1872, for Messrs James VertcH & Sons, of Chelsea, 
where they flowered for the first time in April of the following year. 
A very interesting account of the habitat of this plant is given by Lenmann. 
Its southern limit is on the western slopes of the snow-capped “ Huarmi-Urcu, ” 
and the volcano of Coatacachi, in northern Ecuador. Here and on the western 
slopes of the volcanic peaks of Chiles, Cumbal and Mallama, in southern 
Colombia, occur the varieties Lehmanni, albicans, and Measuresiana. The species 
then spreads northwards along the central mountain region and the western 
slopes of the western Cordillera, as far as the sources of the rivers Sinu and San 
Jorge, in the province of Antioquia. Over this region it occurs in greater or less 
quantity in isolated patches. 
The region in which it grows is well defined. With one exception, the 
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