Jan.-Fep., 1919.] LHE ORCHID REVIEW. 9 
graminifolia he remarks: ‘‘ The sepals are an intensely bright and _ beauti- 
ful blue. ..... It is one of the commonest,species within our limits, has a 
rather long flowering period, and attracts universal attention by its beauty 
and brilliancy; so much so that Lindley, in dedicating it to the great 
astronomer, Herschel (who also was a great Orchid-lover and cultivator), 
felicitously speaks of it as species hec pulcherrima eelore cali australis 
intense ccoeruleo superbiens.”’ . . It does not appear to have been 
successfully grown in England. Lindley called the plant Herschelia 
ceelestis, and although Bolus reduces Herschelia to a section of Disa we 
have shown grounds for its retention, and the genus is kept distinct in the 
Flora Capensis. It contains twelve South African species, with three others 
Fig. 1. DIsA LONGICORNU (blue—half nat. size). 
on the mountain further north, namely H. hamatopetala, Rolfe (Disa, 
Rendle D. Goetzeana, Rolfe (Disa, Kranzl.), and D. longilabris, Rolfe 
(Disa, Schlechter). They are characterised by having the lip crenulate, 
fringed or with a long basal claw, and by the wiry leaves. The flowers are 
mostly blue or purple, but in H. barbata they are nearly white. H. venusta 
has been in cultivation, and is figured at t. 7066 of the Botanical Magazine, 
under the name of Disa lacera var. multifida, froma plant brought from the 
Cape by Mr. Watson, which flowered at-Kew in November, 1888. It also 
bloomed in the collections of Mr. Tautz at Hammersmith, and Dr. Smee at 
Carshalton, but in each case was quickly lost. In this case the flowers 
may be described as purple-blue. And there are genuine Disas with blue 
flowers, for eximp!e D. longicornu, and D. maculata. 
