CATTLEYA SUPERBA. 
(Superb-flowered Cattleya.) 
Class. 
GYNANDRIA, 
Natural Order. 
ORCHIDACEiE. 
Order. 
MONANDRIA, 
Generic Character. — See page 1, of the present 
volume. 
Specific Character.— Plant epiphytal. Stems about 
a foot long, pretty regularly swollen, and unusually 
roundish. Leaves ovately oblong, obtuse, coriaceous, 
marginate. Sepals oblong, acute ; petals lanceolate, 
acute, membranaceous, broader than the sepals. 
I/abellum three-lobed, cucullate: lateral lobes acute; 
middle lobe plane, toothletted, emarginate, with ele- 
vated veins at the base. 
A figure of this truly superb object having been published in Dr. Lindley's 
noble Sertum Orchidaceum, we gather from thence that it "has been found in 
British Guayana by Mr. Schomburgk, who sent a live plant of it to Messrs. Loddiges, 
The flowers, if not so large as C. Mossics, are inferior to none in beauty. According 
to Mr. Schomburgk, the plant appears peculiar to the third and fourth degrees of 
north latitude ; it is not to be met with in the Essequibo, north of the mouth of 
the Rupuruny ; from thence it is found southward on trees which skirt the banks 
of the brooks and rivers which meander through the savannahs. He discovered 
only a few solitary specimens in the Essequibo south of the Cayuwini, and none at 
the Equator. The Caribbees call it Oponopodoli, or Ducksmouth ; the Chacoosees 
Masane. It is very fragrant ; the odour in the morning is said to become too 
powerful in a confined place ; the splendid flowers last from three to four weeks. 
" Although only now brought into notice, the species was many years since 
discovered by Dr. Von Martius, who found it near Taruma, on the banks of the 
Rio Negro, and in forests near Para. It is readily distinguished from all previously 
described species by its three-lobed lip, with acute lateral segments, the middle 
lobe being flat, toothletted, and emarginate, and by the cluster of elevated veins at 
the junction of the two divisions of the labellum." 
The flowers excel those of all other Cattleyas in the richness of their colouring, 
and, in fact, are equalled by no other known plant unless it be Sobralia macrantka. 
As already stated, they last a considerable time, and Messrs, Loddiges have had 
different specimens of the species in bloom for several successive months during the 
VOL. IX. NO. CVIII M M 
