68 ORCHIDS 



Brassia. 

 column. The name is in honour of Mr. WilHam Brass, a 

 botanical collector of the end of the eighteenth century. 

 All the cultivated species are robust, free-growing plants, 

 very similar to some Oncidiums in habit, and when strong 

 they flower every year. The flowers are not remarkable 

 for any brilliancy of colour, but they find many admirers 

 on account of their large size and spider-like form. 



Citltitre. — These plants succeed in either pots or pans ; 

 the drainage must be thorough, and they should be potted 

 in good fibrous peat, with a little sphagnum and sand 

 added. They should be placed in the intermediate-house, 

 and be liberally supplied with water during the summer. 

 In winter they should be kept in the same position, and 

 given just sufficient moisture to prevent the pseudo-bulbs 

 from shrivelling. The flowers remain in good condition a 

 long time on the plants. 



B. antherotes (RcJih. /.). — A handsome, free-growing plant, 

 with healthy, green foliage, and .stout flower-spikes, sometimes 2ft. 

 or more in length, bearing many rich yellow flowers, each yin. 

 across ; the sepals are long and narrow ; petals only half as long, 

 purplish-black at the base ; lip triangular, yellow, barred with 

 brown. Colombia, 1879. 



B. brachiata {Liiidl.). — Flowers very large, seven to ten on a 

 raceme ; sepals and petals yellowish-green, s]30tted near the base, 

 6in. long ; petals 4in. long, with more spots at the base ; lip bright 

 yellow, the basal half with revolute margins ; crest white, spotted 

 with orange. Leaves linear-lanceolate, gin. to i2in. long. Pseudo- 

 bulbs 3in. to 5in. long. Guatemala, 1843. (B- K-i "1847, t. 29.) 



B. Qireoudiana (Rchb. /). — A fine, bold-growing species, 

 producing its many-flowered scapes of singular and beautiful 

 flowers during the spring and early summer. The remarkable 

 attenuation of the sepals, which is so characteristic of Brassia, 

 is well exemplified in this species. In general character it 

 resembles B. Lameaiia, the sepals and petals being bright yellow, 

 spotted and blotched with deep red, and the lip similarly 

 coloured. Native of Costa Rica. (Xenia, t. 32.) 



B. Lanceana (Liiidl.).—K plant of robust growth, with dark 

 green pseudo-bulbs and leaves, and a many-flowered scape. The 

 narrow, tapering sepals and petals are bright yellow, blotched 

 with brown, or sometimes with dull red ; the lip is wholly yellow, 

 slightly spotted at the base, and much waved. In the typical 

 form the lip is rather more than half as long as the sepals. 

 The flowers are deliciously fragrant, and last in full beauty for 



