Description originale : Mormodes igneum; racemo elongato multifloro, sepalis reflexis petalisque ascendentibus lanceolatis acutissimis planis, labello unguiculato carnoso apiculato lateribus revolutis ambitu transverse elliptico vix angulato.
This fine plant, and several others of the same genus, has been produced from the rejectamenta of one of Mr. Warczewicz's sales. In January last, we received from Mr. Rucker five sorts of
Mormodes, all derived from the same source, all in flower, and all new. Of these we represent three.
That in the middle of our plate, to which the name of
igneum is given, was conspicuous for the greater size of its parts, and for its intense colouring. A stiff stalk, about a foot high, bore a dozen large fleshy flowers, of which the sepals and petals were alike chocolate-coloured, and the lip a rich fiery orange-brown. There was no streaking or spotting in any part of the surface. The sepals were flat, linear-lanceolate, very sharp, and spread flat out, even turning backward after a time; the petals, on the contrary, were erect, and somewhat broader. The lip, a tough fleshy body, when spread out had an elliptical outline, with the major axis transverse, and the edge extended into a triangular point on one side; in its natural condition it was rolled back, and folded so as to look as if angular, though not really so.
The sorts marked B and C in the plate accompanied it. B had dingy red flowers, marked with lines of dots; and C had dark lake flowers, speckled irregularly with red, but not dotted; their lips were thinner, smaller, and had a decidedly angular outline.
The two other kinds, not now figured, were the same in habit; but neither had any dots; one had faint stripes along the sepals and petals, which were dirty pink, and the lip was a dull green; the other had a much yellower flower; in both the sepals and petals were as in B and C, but the lip was much larger, thinner, and still more decidedly angular.
Are these forms to be regarded as distinct species? and are they new, or are they varieties of some species already known? There grows in the temperate parts of the snow-capped mountain ridge of Santa Martha, especially on the branches of an
Erythrina, a
Mormodes of which travellers speak as being most remarkable for the infinite variety of its colours. A striped state of it having flowered at Syon, some years since, Sir William Hooker published it in the Botanical Magazine,
t. 4214, and called it
Cartoni, under which name it is current in gardens. Of that plant we entertain no doubt that our figures B and C are mere varieties. The main figure, so resplendent in colour and striking in dimensions, seems to differ in its broader and more fleshy sepals and petals, and in its thicker more leathery lip, which has little of the angularity which belongs to
M. Cartoni; we therefore distinguish it under the name of
M. igneum. As for the other varieties above alluded to, and not figured, they probably belong to the
M. flavidum of Klotzsch.
It is not improbable, however, that all these things are one and the same species; and if so the
M. lentiginosum of the Botanical Magazine, t. 4455, will have to be added; for beyond colour the plant seems to have nothing to distinguish it except the total absence of all angularity in the lip. The same principles which justify the separation of that plant equally authorize the distinction of
Cartoni,
igneum, and
flavidum; [...]
