154 



PAXTON'S FLO WEE GARDEN. 



sign. The sepals and petals are remarkably blunt — almost rounded. The lip is more or 

 less toothletted, not unfrequently even three-lobed, and partially imitating the bluntness 

 of the sepals. The ovary is much shorter than the lip — not half its length ; and, finally, 

 the spikes are stiff and erect, by no means drooping gracefully. These differences render 

 it impossible to regard the two plants as mere forms of each other. 



Another plant closely allied to these is the Aerides maculosum, figured in the Botanical 

 Register for 1845, t. 58. This differs in having flowers loosely arranged, larger, more 

 spotted, and generally somewhat panicled. The lip has, moreover, at its base two small 

 flat spreading acute lobes ; the same lobes occur, no doubt, in A. affine and roseum, but they 

 are smaller, erect, and rounded. 



Finally, Dr. Wright published an Aerides Lindleyanum, with short leaves, short erect 

 racemes, flowers far larger than in the allied species, and a very distinctly serrated plaited 

 lip. Of this fine plant he gives the following account : — 



"Leaves fleshy, coriaceous, sub-elliptic, oblong, oblique, deeply emarginate at the apex; racemes 

 erect, many-flowered; sepals and petals obovato-suborbicular, anterior sepals somewhat larger, and, 

 like the lip, thick and coriaceous ; lip three-lobed, attached to the point of the prolonged base of 

 the column ■ lateral lobes small, ovate, middle one large, ovate, ventricose above, crisp on the 

 margins, with a large fleshy lobe at the base, closing the spur ; spur short, rigid, inflexed under the 

 lamina ; capsules large, obovate, long pedicelled ; flowers pinkish-lilac, deeper on the axis, fining off 

 to nearly white on the margins; lip the same, but much deeper coloured. On the clefts of rocks, 

 bordering the Kartairy Palls, below Kaitie; also on rocky clefts on a high hill over Coonoor, 

 flowering nearly the whole year ; at least I gathered it in April, and I have it now (November) in 

 flower in pots in Coimbatore/' 



In order to put these distinctions in a clearer light, we propose the following short technical 

 characters. The species constitute a well-marked division of the genus Aerides, from which many 

 of those now on record will have to be excluded whenever the genus is revised : — 



Aerides §. Labello piano indiviso, nunc basi auriculato. 



1. A. affine Wallicli, Catalogue, ~No. 7316 ; Bindley, Sertum Orckidaceum, t. 15; A. multiflorum 

 Boxh. Fl. ind., 3. 475. (?) ; foliis apice tmncatis nunc dentatis, spicis strictis, sepalis petalisque 

 rotundatis, labello rhomboideo sublobato ovario duplo longiore. 



2. A. roseum Loddiges ; Baxton, Fl. Garden, t. 67; A. affine Hooker in Bot. Mag., t. 4049; 

 foliis apice bilobis rotundatis, spicis cernuis, sepalis petalisque acutis, labello rhomboideo integer- 

 rimo acuminato ovario trialato aequali. 



Far. A. floribus pallide roseis immaculatis. 



Far. B. floribus atroroseis submaculatis. 



3. A. maculosum Lindl. in Bot. Beg., 1845, t. 58; foliis apice obliquis obtusis, racemis cernuis 

 subpaniculatis, sepalis petalisque obtusis, labello ovato obtuso piano indiviso basi utrinque unidentato 

 tuberculo indiviso interjecto. 



4. A. Lindleyanum Wight, Figures of Orchidaceous Flants, t. 1677 ; foliis brevibus apice obliquis 

 obtusis bilobis, racemis paucifloris strictis, sepalis petalisque carnosis obtusis, labello ovato acuto 

 serrato plicato basi auriculo acuto crasso utrinque dente inagno carnoso inflexo interjecto. 



