Plate 122.
ANSELLIA GIGANTEA.
Transvaal, Natal, Portuguese East Africa.
Orchidaceae. Tribe Vandeae.
Ansellia, Lindl.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 537.
Ansellia gigantea, Reichb. f. in Linnaea, vol. xx. p. 673; Fl. Cap. vol. v.
sect. 3, p. 62.
This epiphytic orchid belongs to a tropical African genus of about 6 species, and is the only representative which occurs in South Africa. The flowers are a pale lemon colour, sometimes barred or blotched with brown. Specimens were sent to England from Natal prior to 1857, and might be considered, as was suggested by Hooker and the late Dr. Bolus, a colour variety of the tropical African Ansellia africana. Mr. Rolfe in the Flora Capensis considers it to be a distinct species, as described by Reichenbach, and we have followed his naming. The figure given by Bolus (Ic. Orch. Austro-Afric. 11. t. 29) represents a colour form different from that reproduced here.