78 



PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



narrower than in the cultivated. In this country it is one of the finest decorations of the conservatory where room can 

 be afforded. Its drooping branches are loaded with long glaucous, almost blue, leaves,— themselves handsome objects ; 

 and in the first months of the year, it pours forth in profusion its long spikes of deep yellow round flower-heads. Some 

 of the leaves are above a foot long. The pods are 

 said to be very narrow, from three to five inches 

 long, and contracted between the seeds. 



MoitMODES BARB ATOM [alias 



Morrnodes atro-purpurea, Hooker). An 

 Orchidaceous epiphyte, from Central Ame- 

 rica. Flowers dark purple. 

 Introduced by Warczewitz. 

 Blossomed by J. D. 

 Llewelyn, Esq. 



This plant, published in 

 the Botanical Magazine, t. 4577, 

 under the name of Mormodes atro- 

 purpurea, is quite different from 

 the plant so called in the Botanical 

 Register, t. 1861. It differs not 

 only iii the longer and looser 

 spike, but in the form of the lip, 

 which is not at all 3-lobed, or 

 rather 5-lobed, but quite entire, 

 and moreover covered with long 

 hairs instead of being smooth. Sir 

 Win, Hooker gives the following 

 definition and account of it: — 



M. pseudo-bulbis oblongis 

 squamis amplis imbricatis pallidis 

 fusco-marginatis vaginatis, foliis 

 . . . , floribus pendulis unicolori- 

 bus, sepalis petalisque arete re- 

 fiexis ovato-lanceolatis marginibus 



revolutis, labelli late obcordati velutini in stipitem basi attenuati lateribus revolutis, 

 columna oblique torta breviter acuminata. " The blossoms of the present species 

 are of a uniform dark purple or blood colour, the sepals and petals wider (than in 

 M. kntiginosa), the lip much broader and velvety, with short hairs. It was com- 

 municated in January, 1851, by our friend J. Dillwyn Llewelyn, Esq., from his 

 collection at Penllergare, having been purchased by that gentleman at one of the 

 sales of plants of Mr. Warczewitz, from Panama. Pstudo-bulbs clustered, oblong, 

 striated, the old ones entirely sheathed by large, membranaceous, pointed scales, of a 

 pale straw-colour, edged with dark brown. The leaves we have not seen. Scape a 

 foot high, rounded, articulated. Flowers rather distant, pendulous, of a nearly uniform 

 dark purple-brown, or between chocolate and blood-colour. Sepals and petals nearly 

 uniform, ovato-lanceolate, their sides reflexed. The lip porrected, velvety with short 

 hairs, broadly obcordate, tapering below into a stipes, the sides singularly revolute 

 Column pale, purplish-brown, not half the length of the lip, with which it is nearly 

 parallel, but it has an oblique twist ; the apex short, acute." 



Moumodes ATiiopuitPUiiEUM {Lindley , in Botanical 

 Register, t. 1861). Central America. Flowers deep purple, 

 on a close erect raceme. Lip cpuite smooth, three-lobed, veiny 

 at the edge, the middle lobe slightly three-fid, fleshy, with 

 the divisions rounded, that in the middle being longer and 

 cuspidate. 



