S. Gower del.
Plate 119.
EULOPHIA zeyheri.
Cape Province, Transvaal, Natal, Basutoland.
Orchidaceae. Tribe Vandeae.
Eulophia, R. Br.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 535.
Eulophia Zeyheri, Hook. f. Bot. Mag. t. 7330; Bolus Ic. Orch. Austr.-Afr.
ii. t. 24; Fl. Cap. vol. v. sect. iii. p. 43.
This pretty little orchid is quite a common plant in the grass veld during the summer months, and has been extensively gathered by botanical collectors, though strangely enough it is not generally met with in gardens. It has been known to botanists for about sixty years, but under the name E. bicolor, until Sir Joseph Hooker in 1893 pointed out that this name had already been assigned to another species in the genus, and published the present name E. Zeyheri.
The tubers resemble a string of large beads, and send out leaves and roots from the constrictions between the swollen portions. The plant has been successfully grown in Gloucestershire, England, by the late Mr. H. J. Elwes, and should certainly receive the attention of South African cultivators.