64 



LiELIA BARKERIANA. 



Springfield, by whom it was received with the name of L. anceps. When we 

 first saw it in flower, we supposed it to be a variety of that species, as figured by 

 Dr. Lindley in the Bot. Reg. t. 1751 ; but a careful examination has enabled us 

 to point out many essential differences, of which the following are the most 

 important : — The pseudo-bulbs in our present plant are elliptic oblong (not ovate) 

 in their outline, with rounded (not acute) angles ; leaves somewhat obtuse (not 

 acuminate) ; scape round (not two-edged), three-flowered (not two-flowered) at 

 the apex ; ovary viscid, as in L. anceps, but destitute of the brown spreading 

 bractea. For other points of difference we refer to the specific character and 

 description above. 



Having thus determined it to be a distinct species, we have great pleasure in 

 naming it Loelia Barkeriana, in compliment to its liberal possessor, with whom it 

 flowered for the first time in this country ; whose zeal and success in the cultivation 

 of exotics (and more especially of Orchidaceous plants) are well known ; and to 

 whom we take this opportunity of making our acknowledgments for unrestricted 

 access to his valuable and continually increasing collection. 



The plant was sent to this country by Mr. John Henchman, who has 

 obligingly communicated the following interesting particulars of its discovery : — 

 " I collected it in 1835, in the immediate vicinity of Xalapa. It was growing in 

 luxuriant masses upon the clefts of old oak trees, in very exposed situations, some 

 hundreds of feet above the level of the city of Xalapa; the more respectable 

 inhabitants of which seldom appear abroad without cloaks, owing to the pre- 

 valence of very cold winds. I mention this circumstance because Lselia was the 

 only orchideous plant which I found in those elevated spots ; the other numerous 

 and brilliant members of this family, which are natives of that part, being found 

 only in the deep and steep barrancas or glens, where, protected from the wind, 

 they rejoice in a climate purely tropical, and in a humid atmosphere unknown in 

 the more exposed and elevated spots." 



Fig. 1, anther case ; 2, lateral view of the pollinia ; 3, posterior view of 

 the same. 



