193 
BURLINGTONIA RIGIDA. 
(rigid-stemmed burlingtonia.) 
class. order. 
GYNANDRIA. MONANDRIA. 
NATURAL ORDER, 
ORCHID AC E^. 
Generic Character. — Perianth membranaceous, convolute, oblique. Sepals unguiculate, shorter than 
the labellum, distinct from the petals ; lateral ones concave at the base. Petals unguiculate, parallel 
with the labellum, equal in length to the sepals, but broader. Labellum likewise unguiculate, two- 
lobed, horned or pointless, dilated at the apex, with a channelled claw, lamellate. Column cylindrical, 
conspicuously club-shaped, sometimes with two coloured acute appendages at the top ; clinandrium 
dorsal; stigma horned on both sides. Anthers one-celled. Po/Zew-wa^ses two, excavated at the 
back, having a subulate, elastic, adnate caudicula. 
Specific Character. — Plant epiphytal. Stems terete, rigid, very hard, erect, proliferous at distant 
intervals. Pseudo-bulbs obovate, compressed, one-leaved. Leaves oblong. Scapes long, rigid, 
racemose at the summit. Sepals and petals white, tinged and veined with pale pink. Labellum 
pointless, with few plates on the disk. Column pubescent, with two falcate, erect, ear-shaped 
appendages on the top. 
The extraordinary gracefulness of the habit of this plant, and its peculiarly 
lovely flowers, are almost unrivalled even in the tribe to which it belongs, and which 
is so singularly prolific of elegant objects. 
Most Orchidacess that are remarkable for their strictly epiphytal character, and 
for sustaining themselves solely on atmospheric supplies, receive the popular name 
of air-plants ; but there is usually a grossness and succulence in their stems, leaves, 
and roots, which foster the idea that these are themselves the reservoirs of nutri- 
ment, and diminish the seeming singularity of the manner in which they are sus- 
tained. To no plant does sucli a notion appear more inapplicable than to the present 
subject of remark. The smallness of all its parts, and the comparatively gossamer 
nature of its roots, most efficiently confirm the opinion that it is constantly dependent 
on the air for its existence, and render it more like a thing of romance, than an 
actual member of the vegetable kingdom. 
In Messrs. Loddiges' magnificent collection, where our drawing was prepared 
last spring, there is a specimen of this beautiful plant which has attained a con- 
siderable size and perfection ; and its mode of growth, which is partly exhibited in 
our figure, may be deemed worthy of a brief description. 
The plant, consisting of several pseudo-bulbs, is growing in a pot filled with 
heath-soil and potsherds, and from each of the pseudo-bulbs a long, rigid, wire-like 
VOL. VIII. NO. XCIII, c c 
