Epidendrum, foliis linearibus, caulem vagina alterne tegantibus, apice crenatis: floribus terminalibus, spicatis, alternatis, purpureis; caulis juncinus, longus, gracilis.
Epidendrum, with linear leaves, alternately sheathing the stem, and notched at the end: flowers terminate the branches in a spike, alternate, and purple: stem rush-like, long, and slender.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The blossom without the honey-cup, spread open to show the chives.
2. The same magnified.
3. The honey-cup magnified.
4. The pointal magnified.
In the Icones of Jacquin we find a figure of this Epidendrum, under the appellation we have adopted, but evidently taken from a dried specimen, with a reference to the Icones of Father Plumier 182, fig. 1. under the title of Heleborine; but on comparison we find no affinity sufficiently powerful to induce us to regard them as representing the same plant. In Plumier’s figure there is no incisure at the end of the leaves, a specific character in our plant; the rest of the figure is also too obscure to admit of comparison. The plant, from its long and slender stalks, acquires a graceful bend when in flower. As a native of Jamaica it requires the tan-bed of the hot-stove for its protection; and, like many other tropical plants, is subject to lose much of its beauty by the loss of the leaves on the lower part of the stem. Our figure was made from the Hibbertian Collection.[Pg 27]
PLATE CCCCXLVI.
DOLICHOS HIRTUS.
Hairy-stemmed Dolichos.