26 
CCELOGYNE WALLICHIANA. 
are matured, the old anes decay, and the plant, now in full leaf, remains in a state 
of torpidity till the following October ; about which time it loses its foliage, and 
the flower-buds again begin to swell. 
With one trifling exception, — viz. the period of potting, — our present subject 
may be treated in precisely the same manner as is recommended for P/iaius albus 
p. 159 of the last volume of this Magazine. While a mixture of heath-soil, pot- 
sherds, and sphagnum will be found an excellent compost for planting it in, drainage 
is too important a point in the operation of potting to be left unnoticed here, as 
this species requires the greatest possible care in that respect. Shallow pots, where 
procurable, are decidedly to be preferred. From the period at which its growth 
ceases to that immediately succeeding the decay of its flowers, a cold house is the 
most appropriate situation in which it can be placed. On attaining this epoch, it 
should be repotted, and removed to a moist stove, retaining it there during the 
whole of the time in which any disposition to grow is apparent, and returning it to 
a cool house when its growth is concluded. 
Propagation is easily effected by separating one of the pseudo-bulbs while in a 
dormant state, and treating it as the parent plant. 
In its native districts, this lovely species grows in such astonishing profusion, 
that the surface of the rocks, in favourable situations, is literally strewn during the 
flowering season with its delightful blossoms ; and as these are produced on such 
short peduncles, their appearance resembles a superb and richly decorated carpet. 
Such a picture would have even enhanced the beautiful description of the immortal 
Milton, when, alluding to the nuptial bower of our first parents in pristine inno- 
cence and bliss, he says, — 
" Under foot the violet, 
Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay 
Broider'd the ground, more colour'd than with stone 
Of costliest ernhlem." 
Happily the species can be cultivated with tolerable facility, and our hothouses 
afford us the means of emulating nature in developing and displaying this admirable 
little flower, though on ever so limited a scale. 
According to Loudon, the generic designation is from koilos, hollow, and gyne^ 
woman ; which alludes to the structure of the stigma, or female organ of repro- 
duction. 
This species w T as named in compliment to Dr. Wallich, the distinguished 
explorer of East Indian vegetation, and able director of the Calcutta Botanic 
Garden. A drawing of it has been published by that gentleman in his Hares 
Flora Asiaticce. 
