TKICHOPILIA. 733 



TRICHOPILIA, Lindley. 



{Ti'ihe Vaudeae, xiihti-ile Oncidieae.) 

 This genus contains some very handsome and distinct-looking dwarf 

 evergreen plants. They have monopliyllous pseiidobulbs, fleshy erect 

 leaves, and deflexed scapes springing from the rhizome below the leaves, 

 usually one or two-flowered, but sometimes producing four or five flowers, 

 which are not only ciirious in form but also of a showy character. They 

 liave free narrow erecto-patent sepals and petals, and a large lip whose 

 claw is adnate to the column, which it closely invests above, the limb 

 being spreading, the slightly dilated lateral lobes connivent, and the 

 middle lobe continuous and undulated. The anther-bed is usually 

 ciliato-fimbriate. Bentham records sixteen species as growing in 

 Colombia, Central America, and Mexico. 



Culture.— 1\\e Tricliopilias are best grown in pots, with peat and 

 good drainage, and should be well elevated above the rim of the pot on 

 account of their deflexed flower scapes, which proceed from the base of 

 the bulbs. Too much water at the root at any time is highly injurious 

 to them. They will do best in the Mexican house, kept as near the glass 

 as possible, so that the bulbs may become well matured, which induces 

 them to bloom more freely. They are propagated by dividing the plant. 



T. BREVIS, liolfc. — A very pretty novelty, imported about three years ago 

 by the Hortioultiu-e Internationale. Pseudobulbs cylindro-conical, from 

 3 to 6 inches long, the young growths producing a solitary elliptic lanceolate 

 iicute leaf about 6 inches long ; scapes two- or three-flowered, produ.ced from 

 the base of the growths ; the sepals and petals are linear-lanceolate acute, 

 subequal, greenish-yellow, with a few chocolate-brown blotches ; lip cam- 

 panulate, white, slightly flushed and veined with yellow on the front lobe 

 and disk. — Peru. 



'FlG.—Zhidcnia, vii. t. 332. 



T. CANDIDA.— Sec Piltjmna pbagraxs. 



T. COCCINEA.— See T. mab&inata. 



T. CRISPA, Lincll. — A charming and very rare species, resembling T. 

 viarginata in its habit and foliage, but more robust, the pseudobulbs being 

 larger ; the drooping peduncles are produced from the base of the bulbs, and 

 bear two or three large flowers on each ; the sepals and petals are crispato- 

 crenate along the whole margin, light cherry crimson, faintly edged with white 

 and the lip is large, white outside, somewhat deeper in colour than the sepals, 

 the margin irregularly but strongly crisped, and the throat a rich deep crimson. 



