CATTLEYA SKINNERI. 
(Mr. Skinner’s Cattleya.) 
Class. 
Order. 
GYNANDRIA. M0N0GYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
ORCHIDACE^E. 
Generic Character.— Sepals membranous, or fleshy, 
spreading, equal. Petals frequently larger. Labellum 
Ducullate, enwrapping the column, three-lobed or un- 
livided. Column club-shaped, lengthened, semi-terete, 
margined, articulated with the labellum. Anthers 
fleshy, four-celled, with the margins of the septae 
membranous. Pollen-masses four, caudiculae bent 
back, even. 
Specific Character. — Plant an epiphyte. Stem 
pseudo-bulbous, inerassated, jointed, compressed. 
Leaves oblong, fleshy. Racemes short, many-flowered, 
dense. Sepals linear, lanceolate, acute. Petals broadly 
oval, twice the width of the sepals, waved at the edges. 
Lip entire, or very obscurely three-lobed, funnel- 
shaped, emarginate, obtuse. Column about one-third 
of an inch long. 
The richness and delicacy so strikingly displayed in some of the species of 
Cattleya can scarcely be surpassed even in the magnificent tribe of Orchidaceae, 
and the softness and intensity of the rose-coloured blossoms of C. Skinneri entitle 
it to be enumerated with the most specious and lovely of the fine family of 
epiphytes, amongst which it is enrolled. It is slightly inferior in size to C. labiata 
and C. Mosscci , but its inferiority in this respect is fully compensated by the higher 
character of other qualities. When the blossoms first open, they are a trifle 
smaller, and of a more pallid hue than they are pictured, but a few days give 
them all their brilliancy and richness. 
The chief distinguishing feature, independent of the form of the stem and the 
general contour of the flower, will be found in the extreme shortness of the column, 
which is considerably smaller than that of any other known species, and thus con- 
stitutes one of the most efficient means of recognising it amongst its allies. 
It was first received in this country in 1836, from Mr. Skinner, whose inde- 
fatigable exertions in procuring and sending home so many of the finest species of 
tropical American Orchidaceae are so well known to every cultivator of the tribe. 
Its vernacular appellation is stated to be “ Flor de San Sebastian ” which has 
evidently originated in the practice common amongst the Guatemalese of employing 
various flowers to decorate the temples of their favourite saints. 
To arrive at cultural perfection in the easiest and most certain manner, the 
