126 orchid-grower's manual. 



distichous broadly-ligulate acuminate leaves more or less keeled ; and axillary 

 scapes, each supporting a solitary flower, which measures three and a half to 

 four inches across, white distinctly blotched with violet or mauve at the tips of 

 both the sepals and the petals, the white being continued outside the blntch so 

 as to form a narrow margin. The lip is much shorter than the other parts, 

 squarish with the sides revolute, the apex of an intense rich velvety purple, the 

 basal callus large, bright yellow, white on each side. The broad hooded white 

 column is also a conspicuous object in the centre of the flower. — U.S. Oolomhia. 

 Fig.— Wanwr, Sel. Orch. PL, iii. t. 13 ; Xcnia Orch., iii. t. 221. 



B. PATINII, Schb.f. — A fine and distinct plant having some resemblance to 

 B. Lalindei, but with larger flowers less brightly coloured. The leaves, which 

 are distichous, are nervose, broadly oblong-ligulate, narrow at the base, and 

 acute at the apex. The scapes spring from the leaf-axils, and are decurved. 

 each bearing a solitary flower upwards of three inches across ; the dorsal sepal 

 and the obtuse petals, all of which are oblong and undulated, are of a rosy-pink, 

 while the two lower sepals are pink along the upper half, and deep rose along 

 the lower side ; the short lip is yellow, as is the frill of about thirteen lamellae 

 on the disk, and has the large convex pink column arching over it. — New 

 Grenada. 



Fig. — Floral Mag., 2 ser., t. 147 ; Gard. Chron., N.S., iii. 8, fig. 1. 



BB.ASSAVOLA, liohert Broivn. 

 (Tribe Epidendreae, subtribe Laelieae.) 



Epiphytal plants, with somewhat thickened stems, bearing one or 

 two fleshy sub-terete or thickly linear leaves, and terminal showy flowers, 

 of which the sepals are long and spreading, the lip sessile, its basal lobes 

 folded over the column, and its front lobe abruptly expanded. There 

 are about a dozen species, natives of Brazil, the West Indies, and 

 Mexico, but only a few that are suflSciently showy to be worth growing 

 by the majority of amateurs. 



Culture. — These plants are of easy culture, and grow best in a little 

 moss on blocks of wood suspended from the roof; a liberal quantity of 

 water is necessary during the growing season, but afterwards much less 

 will suffice. They are best grown in the warmest house, and are pro- 

 pagated by dividing the plants. 



B. ACAULIS, Lindley. — A. very interesting species, with rush-like foliage 

 and a compact stemless habit of growth, strikingly different from all others 

 except B. glauca. The flowers are large, with the sepals and petals long, 

 narrow, and greenish or creamy white, the lip being large, heart-shaped and 

 pure white, with the base of the tube spotted with dull rose. They are 

 produced in September, and remain a long time in beauty. — Central America. 



Tig.— Paict. Fl. Oard., ii. 152, fig.21C ; L'OrcliidppMe, 1884, p. 233. 



Syn. — Bletia acaulis. 



