Plate 397. 
TILLANDSIA MUSAICA. 
We are indebted to Mr. William Bull, King’s Road, Cbelsea, for the opportunity of 
figuring tliis handsomely-marked stove Epiphyte from the United States of Colombia. 
The leaves are as usual amplectant at the base, and are of a ligulate form, spreading or 
recurving at the apex, which is acute in some forms, and blunt with a short mucronate 
point in others ; they are a foot or so long and two inches broad, the ground colour of a 
greyish or pale yellowish-green, marked at short intervals in an irregular way by patches 
of dark green, flexuous, transverse broken veins, as if inscribed with illegible writing, the 
back of the leaf having the same characters of a dull wine-red colour. These singular 
markings give the leaves a very interesting and ornamental character. 
The striking flower spikes are in bold and effective contrast to the handsomely-marked 
leaves. The base of the spike is composed of scales of light vermilion, and these 
enclose orange-yellow, crocus-like flowers. Generally the plant is cultivated as an 
ornamental-leaved stove plant, but we have embraced the opportunity of illustrating it 
when in full bloom. 
Tillandsia musaica requires to be grown in peat, and is increased by means of suckers. 
Plate 398. 
ONCIDIUM ORNITHORRHYNCHUM ALBUM. 
This species, of which we figure the white variety, is a well-known Mexican Orchid, 
introduced about the year 1826. It produces pendent spikes of numerous flowers, rosy- 
lilac in colour, and perfumed in a charming manner, something like the Heliotrope. It is 
an autumn and winter-flowering Orchid, and being free of bloom is a pleasing object in 
the house when in good condition. 
We are indebted to Mr. B. S. Williams for the opportunity of figuring the white 
variety, album, as it is now generally termed, though named by Professor Reichenbach 
albiflorum. It is a very striking form with whitish flowers, the calli being yellow. 
There is a charming delicacy about this variety which all must admire. Then it is 
sweetly fragrant. In describing the white variety in the Gardener's Chronicle, Professor 
Reichenbach was much struck with the perfume of the flowers on opening the box of 
them he had received from Mr. Day ; but he remarks, “ Mr. Day, whom I have to thank 
for the inflorescence, had not even remarked the smell, though we all admire his eminent 
powers of observation. The moral is, the smell may have been developed later, as there 
are plants, and Orchids, which only have a perfume at certain times; hence we should be 
very cautious in judging others.” 
