[Illustration: PL. 14. TRICHOPILIA SUAVIS ALBA.]
TRICHOPILIA SUAVIS ALBA. [Plate 14.] Native of Central America.
Epiphytal, _Pseudobulbs_ roundish-oblong or obcordate, thin, _i.e._, very much compressed, clustered, monophyllous. _Leaves_ broadly oblong, acute, leathery in texture, almost sessile, of a pale green colour. _Scapes_ radical, two to four-flowered, pendent. _Flowers_ large, showy, and fragrant, each emerging from the axil of a thin ovate bract. _Sepals_ linear-lanceolate, acute, somewhat undulated, spreading, and, as well as the similarly-formed _petals_, of a pure white colour; _lip_ large, rolled up closely at the base, suddenly expanded upwards so as to become funnel-shaped, and then spread out into a large oblique limb, which is three-lobed, with the edges wavy and crisped, the middle lobe larger, slightly deflexed and emarginate or bilobed: _Column_ elongate, terete, bearing at the back of the anther a hood of three fimbriated lobes.
Trichopilia suavis, _Lindley_, in _Paxton’s Flower Garden_, i. 44; 53, t. 11; _Hooker_, _Botanical Magazine_, t. 4654; _Van Houtte_, _Flore des Serres_, viii. 761; _Lemaire_, _Jardin Fleuriste_, iii. 277; _Reichenbach fil._, in _Walpers’ Annales Botanices Systematicæ_, iii. 553, et vi. 681.
_Var._ ALBA: flowers pure white, the lip with a yellow blotch in the throat.
This plant belongs to a small genus of Vandeous Orchids, some of the species of which are exceedingly pretty, and well worthy of a place in every collection. Dr. Lindley calls _Trichopilia suavis_ “a delicious Orchid,” and says that “the flowers emit the most delicate odour of hawthorn.” The fragrant and richly spotted flowers make it a great favourite amongst growers, and no doubt it is one of the best and most showy of the species yet known. The variety _alba_, of which we have now the pleasure of publishing an authentic figure, the first which has appeared, is new to cultivation, and is also extremely rare. Our plate was prepared from a specimen which flowered in the fine collection of Dr. G. Boddaert, of Ghent, Belgium, who kindly allowed us to have a drawing made from it.
_Trichopilia suavis alba_ was imported, with the typical _T. suavis_, and is a compact evergreen plant, with foliage attaining from six to ten inches in height, and three inches in width, and of a light green colour. The pendent flower-scapes are produced from the base of the bulbs, and bear two or three, or sometimes four, flowers, which thus hang over the sides of the pan or basket in which the plant is cultivated. When suspended from the roof of the house they thus have a very charming appearance. The sepals and petals are pure white; the lip is white, with a pale yellow stain in the throat. The plant blossoms during May and June, and lasts about two weeks in perfection. We have flowered this variety during the present year, and it was very much admired by every one who saw it.