OECHIDS. 



235 



C. hicolor, but the flowers are very distinct from any 

 other ; they are also deliciously fragrant ; sepals and 

 petals pEile orange, tinged with green, and spotted 

 and streaked with purple; lip ovate, deep velvety- 

 rose, vemed with rich purple ; throat yellow. Au- 

 tumn months. Brazil. 



C Wagnerii. — Although descrihed as a species, 

 there can be little doubt that it is a variety of 

 C. Mossiie. It was originally found growing with 

 that species, which it resembles in every detail 

 saving colour ; the flowers are pure white, with a 

 stain of deep jellow in the throat. June and July. 

 La Gruayra. 



C. IFalkeriana. — Sometimes found in collections 

 under the name of C. bullosa. It is a charming 

 species of dwarf habit, and requires to be grown 

 upon a block ; pseudo-bulbs short, stout, and oval, 

 bearing a solitary coriaceous, oblong, deep green 

 leaf; peduncle erect, one to two-flowered; flowers 

 five inches or more in diameter, and deliciously 

 fragrant ; sepals oblong-acute ; petals much broader, 

 ovate, with wavy margins; all clear bright rose- 

 colour ; lip rosy -purple, stained with yellow towards 

 the base. It lasts a very long time in fuU beauty. 

 The flowering season is May and June, but some- 

 times it blooms twice in the season. Brazil. 



C. Wamerii. — This evidently belongs to the labiata 

 section, to which indeed it is a. dangerous rival. 

 The original form introduced proved it to be one of 

 the very finest of its race, but more recent importa- 

 tions have shown that it is subject to great variation. 

 With something of the labiata growth, the peduncle 

 bears three to five superb flowers, full six inches in 

 diameter ; sepals lanceolate - acute ; petals ovate, 

 very broad and crisp at the edges; aU deep rose, 

 shaded with Hlac ; lip very large, deeply bi-lobed in 

 front, where it is intense rich crimson and beaiiti- 

 fully fringed ; behind this it is creamy- white, and 

 the throat is orange. It is named in honour of Mr. 

 E. Warner, of Bloomfield, Chelmsford— a worthy 

 monument of his great love for these plants. Sum- 

 mer months. Brazil. 



Chysis -A small genus of remarkably showy 



plants. The name comes from chysis, " melting," and 

 refers to the poUen masses, which have the appear- 

 ance of being run together or fused. 



CJhysis may be known by their stout spindle- 

 shaped pseudo-bulbs, which are sometimes upwards 

 of a foot long, and clothed with large leafy bracts ; 

 the leaves are large, membranous, and plaited, light 

 green, and deciduous ; sepals slightly connate ; petals 

 conforming to the sepals ; lip threo-lobed ; column 

 deeply channelled at the base ; pollen masses, eight- 

 four stout and four thin. These plants are found as 

 epiphytes, growing on the forest trees, but though 



they thrive admirably in cultivation upon blocks, 

 their great weight renders it necessary to place 

 them either in baskets or pots ; the material should 

 consist of rough peat fibre and living Sphagmmi 

 Moss, and a few pieces of charcoal. The flower- 

 spike comes up with the young growth, and the 

 blooms expand when the shoot is about half-grown ; 

 during this time they require an abundant sup- 

 ply of water, but when the pseudo-bulbs are fully 

 matured they may be kept quite dry, and in a 

 cooler temperature than when growing. Brazilian 

 House. 



C. bractescens.-'— The stout pseudo-bulbs are enve- 

 loped in large leafy bracts ; the spike is rather 

 short, bearing three to six flowers ; sepals and petals 

 thick and fleshy, pure waxy- white; the lip white, 

 stained with yellow at the base. April and May. 

 Mexico. 



C. Iwvis. — A handsome species. The raceme is 

 many-flowered ; sepals and petals clear pale yellow, 

 suffused with orange ; lip threc-lobed, the side lobes 

 yellow, forming a hood over the column ; front lobe 

 crisp round the edge, orange-yellow, blotched and 

 streaked with crimson. It blooms during May and 

 June, and retains its fuU beauty for several weeks. 

 Guatemala and Mexico. 



C. Limminghii. — This beautiful species inhabits 

 the branches of the forest trees near the sea-coast. 

 The pseudo-bulbs are shorter and more ovate than 

 the previously enumerated kinds ; scape flve to six- 

 flowered ; sepals and petals of great substance, nearly 

 equal ; blush-white suffused with rosy-pink, which 

 passes into purple towards the tips ; lip three-lobed ; 

 the lateral lobes are too small to cover the column ; 

 yellow, streaked with crimson ; middle lobe flat, 

 fleshy, pinkish-lilac, streaked and lined with purple. 

 March to May. Province of Tabasco, Mexico. 



Cirrhopetalum. — The name is derived from 

 cirrhus, "a tendril," aniA. petalon, "a flower-leaf," in 

 allusion to the peculiar ligulate sepals. It is a large 

 family, and very nearly allied to Solbophyllum, 

 from which it is chiefly distinguished by the very 

 long lateral sepals and umbellate inflorescence. The 

 formation of the flowers of Cirrhopetalums is very 

 singular, and this, coupled with their bright colours, 

 renders them favourites whenever seen. In the 

 earlier days of Orchids, a lover of these plants thus 

 records his first impressions of C. chinense. He 

 says : " There is no longer any occasion for specula- 

 tive minds to occupy themselves with the important 

 investigation of the cause that may have induced 

 the Chinese to invent strange figures of men and 

 women, with their chins in perpetual motion, for 

 here is the explanation. We have here a plant from 

 China, one of whose lobes is so like a tongue and 



