ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
Nectarium turbinatum, obliquum, reflexum.
Honey-cup top-shaped, oblique and reflexed.
See Pl. XIII. Vol. I. Epidendrum cochleatum.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Epidendrum scapo tereti, lævi; foliis ensiformibus; petalis lanceolatis glabris; labio lanceolato, recurvato, maculato.
Epidendrum with a round smooth stem; leaves sword-shaped; petals lance-shaped, smooth; lip lance-shaped, recurved and spotted.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The lip, detached from the flower.
2. A Flower from which the lip has been separated.
The Sword-shaped-leaved Epidendrum is a native of China and Japan, was cultivated, before 1792, in the gardens of the Marchioness of Rockingham, at Hillindon, Middlesex. It has more the habit and character of Limodorum than Epidendrum, to which genus it was first placed; and, like the Epidendrum sinense of this work, Plate CCXVI. Vol. III. requires but little heat to keep it in health; preferring a sandy loam to any other matter, for its nourishment. It, like the forenamed, and several other species of this genus, or rather of the genus Limodorum, not being thick-leaved, or parasitic, where indigenous, are of consequence much easier preserved and increased than those of that description. Its flowers, which are produced in September or October, are very fragrant, particularly in the evening, continue in perfection above a month. It is propagated by parting the roots in the month of May.