75 
GASTROCHILUS PULCHERRIMUS. 
( PRETTIEST GASTROCHILUS.) 
CLASS. 
MQNANDRIA, 
NATURAL ORDER. 
SClTAMINEiE. 
Generic Character. — Corolla double, in a six-cleft series : interior lobes united with the base of the 
filament into a tube. Labellum gibbously-ventricose. Anther naked, with obtuse lobes, and a 
longer retuse connective. 
Specific Character. — Plant herbaceous, perennial, caulescent. Roots tuberous, fasciculate. Leaves 
ovate-lanceolate, clasping the stem at their base, acuminate, with prominent divergent veins, about 
four inches in length. Flowers produced in a terminal spike, dense, imbricated, drooping, in pairs. 
Corolla nearly white, with a slight dash of pink and yellow- Petals linear-lanceolate, obtuse ; lip 
large, cucullate, bellying considerably at the base, streaked and blotched with red towards the 
extremity, and with an irregular margin. 
A considerable portion of the floral riches of India has latterly been opened 
up to us through the instrumentality of Dr. Wallich, Dr. Royle, and others ; but, 
so far from having exhausted them, we are yet only on the eve of realizing a more 
abundant harvest. As our communication with that fine country is facilitated, 
and British observation pervades it more extensively, our gardens will be inundated 
with tropical treasures ; and, unless a great increase of accommodation is afforded, 
it will soon be an arduous task to select the most deserving. 
Gastrochilus pulcherrimus fully answers the description conveyed in its specific 
title, its delicate blossoms being truly most fair or most beautiful. It is a tuberous- 
rooted herbaceous perennial, beginning its growth in the summer season, by push- 
ing up one or more stems to the height of eighteen inches, from the centre of which 
the flower-spike is protruded in the months of August and September. Each of 
these spikes, on a vigorous plant, produces from twenty to thirty blossoms ; two, 
four, or more of which open daily towards the end of September, and the succeed- 
ing two or three weeks. Pinkish white is the predominant hue of the flowers, the 
extremity of the inflated lip being blotched or striped with reddish pink, which is 
of such a singular tint, as to engender the supposition that it has been applied 
artificially by some master pencil. 
Messrs. Rollison, in whose stove the subject of our drawing bloomed throughout 
order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
