SACCOLABIUM AMPULLACEUM. 
(Flask-formed Saccolabium.) 
Class. 
GYNANDRIA. 
Order. 
MONANDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
ORCHIDACEjE. 
Generic Character. — Perianthium smooth, 
spreading. Sepals and petals equal, lateral ones some- 
times large. Labellum undivided, spurred, growing to 
the base of the column. Column erect, half-rounded, 
with an awl-shaped beak. Anthers half two-celled. 
Pollen-masses two, roundish, with an elongated append- 
age, and a minute gland. 
Specific Character. — Plant an epiphyte. Stem, 
very short. Leaves very thick, distichous, ligulate, 
truncate and toothed at the summit. Racemes oblong 
erect, much shorter than the leaves. Sepals and petals 
ovate, spreading, nearly equal. Labellum acuminate, 
concave, with a short, compressed, drooping spur. 
Synonyme.— Aerides ampullaceum. 
The figure of this plant in Dr. Lindley's " Sertum Orchidaceum " was prepared 
from a specimen belonging to the Hon. Court of Directors of the East India 
Company, and doubtless that specimen was a naturally grown one. 
The above specific character is extracted from the noble work just mentioned, 
but the subject of our drawing flowered at Chatsworth, in August, 1843. The diffe- 
rence in the two representations (that in the " Sert. Orch." and our own,) is striking 
evidence of the beneficial effects of cultivation, even upon the extraordinary family of 
plants of which this is a member. 
Finer as is the spike of flowers, but more particularly the individual blossoms 
as represented in the accompanying figure, than those produced by plants in a wild 
state, they are not equal to some which have since been borne by our plants. 
It is a scarce and valuable plant, a native of the forests of Sylhet, and has also 
been found near Bemphedy. From the first-mentioned place our plants were 
obtained and brought over by Mr. J. Gibson, His Grace the Duke of Devonshire's 
collector. 
Except in its flowers, it does not, in general appearance, materially differ from 
some species of the same and allied genera. It is of medium strength, and there is 
a pleasing proportion between the size of the flower-spikes and the plant, very 
unfrequent in the section to which it belongs. The flowers are borne on shortish 
spikes ; and are remarkable among its division as being self-coloured, and are 
still more so among Orchidece, from the unusualness of their colour, which is bright 
VOL. XIII. NO. CXLVII. H 
