196 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [JULY, 1914, 
received from Prof. Dr. A. Zahlbruckner, Keeper of the K.K. Natur- 
historisches Hofmuseum, Vienna, which appears on another page, and 
will be read with the greatest satisfaction by Orchidists throughout 
the world. 
‘i i 
HE popular Miltonia vexillaria exhibits two distinct kinds of variation. 
The first may be called colour polymorphism, and it adds greatly to 
its charm as a garden plant. The colour variations, or subvarieties, are 
numerous, and shade off into each other in such a way that it is difficult to 
separate them absolutely, though the more distinct have received varietal 
names. Individual variations they might be called, as they occur for the 
most part among plants from the same importation or locality. The other 
kind of variation may be termed geographical, as it represents the influence 
of locality, and affects the whole of the plants from some definite area, 
without excluding individual variation. Geographical variation, in the 
case of Miltonia vexillaria, is very marked, though the details are at present 
imperfectly known, and the object of this paper is to collect what has 
been recorded on the subject, in the hope of eliciting further information on 
a point which is of considerable interest to Orchidists. 
The species was originally discovered near Amalfi, in the province of 
Antioquia, it is believed by Bowman, and introduced to cultivation by 
Chesterton, who sent living plants to Messrs. James Veitch & Sons in 1872, 
after unsuccessful attempts by Wallis and Roezl. Other localities wer 
soon discovered, and in 1889 a very interesting account of the distribution 
of the species was given by Consul F. C. Lehmann (Gartenflora, xxxvll 
P- 350). 
The species is widely diffused, and its southern limit, according © 
Lehmann, is on the western slopes of the snow-capped Huarmi-Urcu, ” 
the volcano of Coatacachi, in the provinces of Esmeralda and Imbabura, . 
northern Ecuador. Here, and on the western slopes of the volcanoes of 
Chiles, Cumbal, and the Pico de Mallama, in southern Colombia, oct 
the varieties Lehmannii, albicans, and Measuresiana. The specie 
thence 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 Jorje, and the northern slopes of the Cerros Leon, 
Sassafral, Centulla, and Paramillo, in the province of Antioquia, in North 
Colombia. Over this region it occurs in greater or less quantity 
isolated patches. Among the best-known stations are the Cent 
Cordillera, between Frontino and Sonson, on the Tavallones de Cali, the 
undulated plateau of Popayan, and the western slopes of the volcanoes 
MILTONIA VEXILLARIA AND ITS VARIETIES. 
