AERIDES. 



as long, red, ringent, its revolute border as long as the 

 pouch. 



9. A. maculatum. Spotted-ilalked Air-bloflbm. Buch. 

 MSS. — Stem creeping. Leaves elliptic-oblong, equally 

 emarginate. Clufter lateral, ftalked, corymbofe. Lip the 

 length of the petals ; its border pointed, dilated at each 

 fide. — Gathered by Dr. Buchanan, on trees in the Myfore 

 country. Thejlems fend out very long curling fibrous roots. 

 Branches (hort, leafy. Leaves obtufe, emarginate, hardly 

 two inches long ; (heathing at the bafe. Flower-Jlalk lateral, 

 oppofite to the loweft leaf on the branch, and protruding 

 through its fplit bafe, a fpan long, ereft, copioufly fpotted 

 with dark purple, furnifhed with a few fcattered brafieas, 

 and terminating in a denfe corymbofe clujler of fix or eight 

 yellow unfpotted^^owfrj, with a fimilar braBea to each par- 

 tial ftalk. Calyx-leaves and petals obovate, about half an 

 inch long, nearly uniform. Lip fomewhat boat-(haped, with 

 a deep keel, and prominent afcending point, accompanied 

 at each fide by a rounded dilatation of the margin. The 

 tack of the Jloiuer is tinged with greeniih or purpUfii 

 brown. 



10. A. dafypogon. Denfely-bearded Air-bloffom. — Stem 

 afcending. Leaves ovate, with a jagged point. Umbels 

 denfe. Border of the lip kidney -fhaped, denfely bearded. — 

 Found by Dr. Buchanan, in Upper Nepaul. Rents com- 

 pofed of long, white, entangled fibres, running over the 

 mofiy branches of trees. Stems folitary, (hort, recurved, 

 leafy. Leaves alternate, fheathing, broadly ovate, about 

 three inches long, flefhy ; fmooth above ; minutely fcaly 

 beneath ; fomewhat revolute ; with three crowded, unequal, 

 fharp teeth at the point. Flo'wer-Jlalts lateral, foUtary, half 

 the length of the leaves, each bearing a denfe umbel of 

 numerous, nearly feflile, very beautiful and fingular, reverfed 



Jlcwers, each hardly an inch in diameter. Calyx-leaves and 

 petals fimilar, obovate concave ; dark red on the upper fide ; 

 green on the under. Lip keeled, but not very deeply, glo- 

 bofe, yellowifti, fpotted with red ; its border as long as the 

 petals, dilated, kidney -fhaped, white ; dotted on the fmooth 

 difk with crimfon ; fringed and thickly clothed towards each 

 fide with fhort, fibrous procefles, refembling velvet. Capfule 

 three inches long. 



11. K. calcerjlare. Slipper Air -blofibm. Buch. MSS. — 

 Stem creeping. Leaves linear-oblong, falcate, unequally 

 jagged at the point. Umbels fpreading. Border of the lip 

 hemifphcrical, denfely bearded. — Gathered by Dr. Buchanan, 

 on the mofly branches of trees, in Upper Nepaul. Stem 

 creeping, by means of very long, fimple, ftout fibres, thrown 

 out from ^vithin the (heaths of former leaves ; its upper part 

 afcending, leafy, three or four inches long. Leaves two- 

 ranked, fpreading, afcending, a fpan long, hardly an inch 

 broad ; jagged, with two (harp teeth, at one fide of the point 

 only. Umhels oppofite to feveral of the lower leaves, foli- 

 tary, ftalked, lax, each of about five Jlowers, which are 

 rather fmaller than thofe of the laft fpecies, but the pouch 

 of the lip is confiderably larger in proportion, prominent, 

 yellow variegated with red, as well as the difli of its border, 

 which laft is denfely bearded with white fibres like the fore- 

 going. Calyx-leaves and petals uniform, obovate, incurved, 

 yellow fpotted with red. 



12. A. rigidum. Rigid Air-blofTom. Buch. MSS. — 

 Stem creeping. Leaves oblong, obtufe, rounded, unequally 

 at the point, four times as long as the corymbofe clutters. 

 Lip with an obovate fmooth border, the fize and fiiape of 

 the petals. — Found by Dr. Buchanan, running over rocks 

 and large ftones in Upper Nepaul. The Jlem is woody, a 

 yard long, and as tluck as the finger, creeping among 

 moffes, and fending out here and there, through the bafes of 



the leaves, very thick radicles. Leaves two-ranked, alter- 

 nate, a foot long, extremely thick and coriaceous, three- 

 ribbed, obhque at the termination, one fide being greatly 

 extended, in a round lobe, beyond the rib, the other doping 

 off below it. The lower part of each leaf has a joint, 

 where it finally feparates, leaving the (heathing permanent 

 bafe, or footjlalk, as in yl. Boraji, maculatum, and others of 

 this genus and natural order. Flotuer-Jlalks oppofite to the 

 leaves, folitary, alternate, about three inches long, diftantly 

 racemofe in the lower part, corymbofe at the fummit, each 

 bearing from five to feven nearly or quite feffile Jlowers, 

 yellow fpotted with red, about the fize of the laft. Calyx- 

 leaves and petals obovate, uniform, eredl. Lip agreeing with 

 them in colour and (hape, except the fmall prominent pouch 

 at its bafe, and the apex being a httle reflexed. 



13. A. undulatum. Wavy-flowered Air -blo(rom. (Epi- 

 dendrum prsmorfum ; Roxb. Corom. v. 1. 34. t. 43. Cymbi- 

 dium prsemorfum ; Swartz Nov. Aft.Upf. v. 6. 75. Schrad. 

 Neues Joum. v. i. 75. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 103. Thaha 

 Maravara ; Rheede Hort. Malab. v. 12. 6. t. 4. Raii Hift. 

 V. 3. 590. Orchis abortiva, floribus luteis minoribus, radiis 

 rubris ; Rudb. Elyf. v. 2. 222. f. 8.) — Stem afcending. 

 Leaves linear, channelled, abrupt, acutely pointed, thrice as 

 long as the corymbofe clufters. Lip with an obovate flat 



border, the fize and (hape of the petals Native of trunks 



and branches of trees, in the hilly parts of Malabar and Coro- 

 mandel, flowering in Oftober. The roots confift of numerous 

 long ftout fibres. Stem afcending, leafy, four or five inches 

 high. Leaves two-ranked, alternate, recurved, coriaceous, 

 fix inches long and one broad, concave, ending in a femicir- 

 cular notch, whofe two extremities are pointed, and nearly 

 equal. Inflorefcence like the laft. Flowers rather finaller, 

 fragrant. Calyx-leaves and petals obovate, equal, (lightly 

 wavy at the edges, yellow, marked with tranfverfe, crimfon, 

 undulating lines. Lip the fize and (hape of the petals, white 

 dotted with red, its pouch but (lightly indicated in parts of 

 Dr. Roxburgh's figure, and probably fo httle obvious in 

 nature, as to have eafily efcaped the artift's notice. Not- 

 withftanding this apparent exception to the generic charafter, 

 the prefent plant, improperly confounded by Linnaeus with 

 his Epidendrum furvum, is ib ftrikingly allied to the laft, 

 and confequently to the two immediately preceding^ that we 

 muft prefume it to be an Aerides. If, on examination, it 

 (hould prove to want the pouch, a fre(h inveftigation muft 

 be inftituted, refpefting the diftinguifhing charafters of this 

 genus and Cymbidium. 



The habit oi Aerides is pecuhar, though not perhaps exchi- 

 fively fo, in the termination of its leaves, always more or lefs 

 abrupt, unequal, or jagged. We have never feen a living 

 fpecimen of any of the genus, but Dr. Buchanan's fine and 

 fcientific coloured figures, drawn from nature under his own 

 infpeftion, are as precife and fatisfaftory as poffible, and that 

 excellent botanift has himfelf pointed out to us the charafters 

 and habit of Aerides, as a natural genus. 



With regard to the name, it well exprefles the quality of 

 living upon air alone, for which feveral fpecies have attrafted 

 notice. Linnaeus, who included the whole, nnth various 

 other things, in his genus of Epidendri'm, (fee that article,) 

 particularly applied the fpecific name of Flos aeris to our 

 fixth fpecies, citing with a query in Act. Up/- the 2d chapter 

 verfe 7th of the Wifdom of Solomon. This, in the Engli(h 

 tranfiation is, " Let no flower of the fpring pafs by us." 

 In a Latin verfion before us this text is rendered " ne prt- 

 iereat nos jucundus aer." Whence this ambiguity arofe, or 

 whether Linn:eus had any where read fos veris, which he 

 confounded vrith f.os aeris, wc have not materials to deter- 

 mine. At any rate, the text in queftion has evidently 



no 



