316 THE ORCHID REVIEW. {OCrOBER, 1908 
J. Holden, Esq., Southport (gr. Mr. Johnson), showed Cymbidium 
erythrostylum (First-class Certificate), and Cypripedium X southportense 
(Award of Merit). 
ERRATA.—The Cypripedium x Stanley Rogerson in the group of Ed. 
Rogerson, Esq., mentioned at p. 280, should read C. X St. Mary, and the 
Cypripedium in the collection of R. Ashworth, Esq., a few lines lower, 
should read C. * Rolfei var. R. Ashworth (First-class Certificate). 
H. THORP. 
GOVENIA LAGENOPHORA. 
THE genus Govenia is not often met with in cultivation, but it exhibits a 
remarkable character which we do not remember in any other, namely 
that of producing a large bladder-shaped sheath, which forms a flask-like 
receptacle for holding water, this being well shown in Govenia lagenophora, 
which is now flowering at Kew. This species was described nearly seventy 
years ago, but was soon confused with another species, and has since been 
practically lost sight of. About a year ago a dried specimen and a pencil 
sketch, together with a living bulb, which had been collected in the state of 
Vera Cruz, were sent by M. Juan Balme, Hijo, Mexico. The bulb com- 
menced to grow in the spring, and has now flowered, proving identical with 
the plant described by Lindley in 1839 (Bot. Reg., xxv. Misc. p. 46). The 
latter flowered in the collection of John Rogers, Esq., Jun., Vine Lodge, 
Sevenoaks, who imported it from Mexico. The innermost sheath, which 
surmounts the bulb, was described as entire, and resembling a Florence 
flask in shape, in allusion to which the specific name (literally flask- 
bearing) was given. Mr. Rogers remarked that the pitcher was generally 
full of water, all the rain and dew which fell on it being conducted into it, 
and was apparently absorbed by the plant, for if not replenished it disap- 
peared more rapidly than evaporation would account for. He added, “ The 
plant evidently delights in water when growing, and is apparently a native 
of bogs and swamps.” 
A description of the plant was communicated by Mr. Rogers, the spike 
being described as bearing forty or fifty flowers, exhaling in the forenoon 
the fragrance of Habenaria bifolia, but their colour was not recorded. 
Lindley then remarked that Swartz’s Cymbidium utriculatum was evidently 
a member of the same genus, and he therefore called it Govenia ntriculata 
(l.c. p- 47). The original specimen is not preserved in Lindley’s Herbarium, 
So may not have been sent, but there are wild specimens, collected by 
Hartweg and Meisner, apparently of later date, for they are not cited by 
Lindley. Bentham’s Herbarium, however, contains a fine specimen, labelled 
** Hab. e. Mex., Lindley, 1840.” This is evidently authentic, and is 
