138 JOUENAL OF THE ROYAL HOETICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



umbels which are frequently one-sided, and their elongated parallel lateral 

 sepals, which in several species, e.g., C. Collettii, C. Medusce, and C. 

 Bothschildianum, owing to a peculiar twist at their base, are brought into 

 the same plane on their inner edges, so as to meet together like the wings 

 of an insect. 



The genus consists of upwards of fifty known species, many well 

 worth cultivating. The greater part of them are East Indian, growing 

 among the Himalayas and other mountain ranges. Some inhabit the 

 Malay Archipelago, one, C. Thouarsi, is reported from the Mauritius, and 

 another, C. cJiinense, from China. Dr. Lindley, in his description of the 

 last-named species, added the following note : — 



" There is no longer any occasion for speculative minds to occupy 

 themselves with the investigation of the cause that may have led the 

 Chinese to invent strange figures of men and women with their chins 

 perpetually in motion, for here is the explanation of it. We have here a plant 

 from China, one of whose lobes is exactly like a tongue and chin, which 

 are so unstable as to be in a state of continual oscillation. The flowers 

 are arranged in a circle, and all look outwards, so that on whatever side 

 the umbel is regarded it still presents to the eye the same row of grinning 

 faces and wagging chins." 



Cirrhopetalum Medusce is another curious and interesting species. 

 The scape is erect and bears upon its apex a large, dense, globose cluster 

 of flowers, which are cream-coloured, freckled with pink, two sepals of 

 each flower being so much lengthened out as to give the spike the appear- 

 ance of a head with very long, dishevelled hair, a circumstance which 

 caused Dr. Lindley in his description to remark : — 



" Certainly, if ever there was a Medusa, this must be the prototype 

 before her beautiful tresses were exchanged into serpents. Nor are 

 wanting the scales with which her form was safely guarded." C. Medusce 

 was introduced from Singapore by Messrs. Loddiges in 1841. The large 

 plant now in the Burford Collection, which was illustrated in the GardeJiers' 

 Chronicle in 1897, came originally from Lady Dorothy Neville's Collection 

 about the year 1878. There are many varieties among the Cirrhopetalums 

 which are not only curious but handsome in appearance. Such is the plume- 

 bearing C. Bothschildianum, a species which was awarded a F.C.C. by this 

 Society, an honour only twice before accorded to members (C ornatissimum 

 and C. robustimi) of this singular genus. The prevailing colour of the flower 

 is bright crimson purple, blotches of clear yellow appearing on the sepals, 

 the triangular-grooved hinged labellum being purple, and the whole 

 floAver so attractive that it commands attention even from those who 

 do not appreciate " inconspicuous " Orchids. Its nearest affinities are 

 C. Collettii, C. ornatissi^nuni, and C. appendiculatum, with its gem-like 

 appendices. The last-named is probably the only single-flowered 

 Cirrhopetalum known. A few interesting representatives of the umbellate 

 section may here be enumerated, viz., C. Mastersianum, the umbrella-like 

 spread of its brown satiny sepals having caused a noted Orchidist to 

 remark to me that it reminded him of the parasol of a Liliputian belle ; 

 Ci 0' Brienianum, C. picturatum, C. Boxhurghii (fig. 70), C. gmcillimum, 

 and G. Cumingii, with flowers arranged like tiny pink parasols. When 

 stood upon the ground each umbel of this last plant looks as if a caterpillar 



