[Plate 32.] 



THE SWEET TRICHOPIL. 



(trichopilia suavis.) 



A Stove Epiphyte, from Central America, belonging to the Natural Order of Orchids. 



Specific Character. 



THE SWEET TKICHOPIL.— Pseudo-bulbs, thin, oblong, obcordate, one-leaved. Leaves broad, oblong, wavy, leathery, 

 nearly sessile. Peduncles about two-flowered. Petals linear, nearly straight. Lip very large, three-lobed, wavy, 

 crisp, closely rolled up at the base, suddenly inflated upwards. Hood of the column three-lobed, with all the 

 lobes fringed, the middle one being the narrowest. 



Trichopilia suavis : Supra, p. 32. 



A MONG the Vandeous Orchids, that is to say, among the Orchids having waxy pollen- 

 JTjl masses on a well-defined gland, and usually with a caudicle in addition, stands 

 conspicuous a group which we have elsewhere named Brassids, comprehending the genera 

 Oncidium, Odontoglossum, Brassia, Cymbidium, and many more. (See Vegetable Kingdom, 

 ]>• 181.) ' 



It is among these genera that the genus Trichopil is stationed, and well defined by 

 its four pollen-masses at the end of a long wedge-shaped caudicle, its convolute free lip, 

 and the remarkable hood of the column, divided, in the species hitherto seen, into three 

 unequal lobes. Helcia, which is nearest it, has a flat lip with a distinct fleshy hypochil, 

 and a fringed, not hooded, anther -lid. 



It is not improbable that many more Trichopils lurk in the forests of Central 

 America than we have any actual knowledge of. To the Cork-screw Trichopil (Tr. 

 tortilis), so named on account of the spiral form of the petals, a second species, from 

 Mexico, was some years since added by Messrs. Richard and Galeotti, with narrow 

 stem-like pseudo-bulbs, and large solitary yellow flowers, under the name of Tr. Galeot- 

 tiana. The plant now figured forms a third; and a fourth, still unnamed, has flowered 

 with Sir Philip Egerton. 



For the opportunity of publishing a coloured plate of this, the Sweet Trichopil, 

 we are indebted to R. S. Holford, Esq. It had also been flowered about the same 

 time by Mrs. Lawrence and Mr. Loddiges. Its broad thin pseudo-bulbs and large 



