↲Huntleya meleagris

An illustration of Huntleya melagris.

Distribution

Gloomy damp woods on the banks of the Rio de Pirapitinga, in the district of Bananal. It is scentless, and flowers in June. [...] It thrives very well in the orchideous-house at Tooting, where the atmosphere is kept saturated with moisture, and the temperature is in winter from 60 to 70 Fahr., and in summer from 70 to 90. The house is of course well shaded from the bright rays of the summer's sun. [...] this requires a considerable quantity of water, and should be freely syringed. It is grown in a pot, but would probably succeed quite as well if hung up, as the greater part of those with fleshy roots do much better in that way.

Description

H. Meleagris; sepalis petalisque ovatis acuminatis tessellatis, labello subconformi unguiculato concavo crista baseos fimbriata, columnae cucullo crenato. Huntleya Meleagris. Bot. Reg. l. c. 1838. misc. no. 20. Rootstock as tick as the little finger, green, cylindrical, with white rootlets on the under-side. Leaves alternate, in two opposite rows, forming a very much compressed fan; above they are bright green and smooth, beneath they are bluish green, with paler and projecting longitudinal veins. These leaves are a foot or more long, and about an inch wide; from the axil of the lowest of them rises a cylindrical pale green peduncle, with two opposite bracts near the middle. The flower is large, terminal, solitary, having five petals, broad at the base, with a white claw, and a claret-coloured ground on the inside, which is sometimes speckled with greenish pink, and always marked by longitudinal lines connected by other transverse ones, which thus form numerous elevations, and make the flower look like a draught-board. The two lower sepals have their inner edge at the base rolled inwards like a horn. The labellum is triangular, tongue-shaped, of a pure ivory white, bordered with deep purple, and nerved with a deeper tint. Its edges are turned downwards, and it is attached to the base of the column by a narrow white claw. At the origin of the claw is a crescent-shaped plate, hollowed out at its upper edge, and fringed with long stiff white hairs, which furrow downwards all the part that supports. them.

Synonyms

References

No data.

Links

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