male but one-flowered, pedicels to 0.5(-0.7) mm long in fruit, pubescent. Calyx glabrous, lobes 4, 0.5-1.3 mm long, 0.7-1.3 mm wide, with an occasional cilia to ciliate; corolla lobes 4, oblong, occasionally free, 2- 3.5(-4) mm long, 1.2-2 mm wide, sparsely to densely ciliate. Stamens 4, 3.2-4.8 mm long, including the anthers. Staminodes 4, 1.2-2.4 mm long. Ovary 1.5-1.8 mm long, globose-ovoid. Stigma 4-lobed; pistillode rudimen- tary. Fruit globose, 4-5 mm diam., scarlet, the exocarp crustaceous (when dried), faintly tuberculate. Pyrenes 4, 3-4.1 mm long, 2-2.8 mm wide, striate and sulcate.

DISTRIBUTION. Upper Burma and S. China (Yunnan).

Ilex cyrtura Merr. in Brittonia 4, 1: 101 (1941); Hu in Journ. Am. Arb. 31, 1: 77-78 (1950) pro parte; W. J. Bean, Trees and Shrubs Hardy Br. Isles, ed. 8, 2: 441-442 (1973). Type: Upper Burma, Adung Valley, Kingdon Ward 9427 (BM, holotype; A, isotype).

14. LYCASTE T R I C O L O R Orchidaceae

Jeffrey Wood

The genus Lycaste Lindl., named after the daughter of King Priam of Troy, contains some 25 species widely distributed from Mexico south to Peru and Bolivia as well as in the West Indies. L. tricolor is less frequently grown in collections than other members of the genus, perhaps because of its more modestly coloured flowers. I t was originally introduced into cultivation from collections made in Guatemala by Warscewicz in 1849 and first flowered in the collec- tion of Herr Nauen in Berlin. Specimens subsequently flowered at Kew from 1886 to 1888 and a further importation was made by Hugh Low & Co. in 1905.

Lycaste tricolor is probably most closely related to another central American species, L. breuispatha (Klotzsch) Lindl., which differs in having distinctly compressed pseudobulbs with prominent apical spines, a shorter floral bract and somewhat smaller flowers with a lip lacking an isthmus. Some authors, notably Allen (1949) and Williams (1956) incorrectly list L. bradeorum Schltr., an orange- yellow flowered species related to L. aromatica (W. J. Hook.) Lindl., as a synonym of L. tricolor.

I n the wild L. tricolor inhabits the Atlantic evergreen tropical rain-forest zones of Central America where it frequently grows

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upon low spreading trees overhanging streams in very humid, fairly bright conditions. The plants are totally deciduous through- out the dry season from December to April. Flowers appear soon after the first spring rainfall and continue to bloom until June or July. The flowers are produced after the old leaves have fallen, or concurrently with the flush of new growth. The specific epithet refers to the three-toned flowers. Fowlie (1970) reports the finding of an albino variant from around Pejibaye in Costa Rica.

The plant illustrated here originated from Costa Rica and was kindly donated to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew by Lady Sains- bury in 1980. I t flowered in cultivation at Kew in May 1981 and kvas painted when it flowered again in June 1982.

CULTIVATION. Lycaste tricolor prefers humid, moderately shaded conditions with a minimum night temperature of 15°C (59°F) during the summer growing season. Cooler, drier conditions are required after autumn leaf fall and a minimum night temperature of 13°C (55°F) should be maintained until new growths appear.

DESCRIPTION. Epiphytic herb. Pseudobulbs caespitose, ovate or orbicular, slightly compressed when young, longitudinally ridged, slightly wrinkled when mature, apex armed with 2 short, sharp spines, bifoliate, with 2-4 bract-like basal leaves, 5-9 cm long, 2.5-4 cm broad, 2-3 cm thick. Apical leaves deciduous, elliptic, acuminate, plicate, undulate, shortly petiolate; blade 24-40 cm long, 6-8 cm broad; petiole 3 cm long. Basal leaves similar but with persistent bases, 6.5-21 cm long, 1.5-5.5 cm broad. Znfirescences solitary, lateral, 2-8, borne at base of previous year’s leafless pseudobulbs and often alongside the flush of new growth, erect to spreading. Flowers

Lycaste tricolor. A , bract, X 1%; B, lateral sepal, X 1; C, dorsal sepal, X 1; D, petal, x 1 ; E, lip, x 1; F, column, side view, X 1%; G, column with anther cap, X 3; H, pollinarium, X 6.

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Plate 14

Lycastc tricolor CHRISTABEL KING

small to medium-sized for the genus, sepals pale greenish-brown to tan, sometimes spotted pink, petals translucent white, spotted and flecked longitudinally with pale rose, lip translucent white, usually with promi- nent pale pink transverse spots on the basal interior half, the mid-lobe suffused pale pink, the callus creamy-white; column creamy-white with bright pink spots and bars on the foot. Pedicel 4.5-8 cm long, 2 mm broad, with 3 or 4 narrowly elliptic, acute bracts, the uppermost floral bract up to 4 cm long and 1.6 cm broad and concealing the ovary. Ovary clavate, curved, 6-ribbed, 2 cm long. Sepals subequal, spreading, oblong-elliptic, acute, often minutely apiculate, apex recurved, sparsely hirsute at base, somewhat undulate. Dorsal sepal (2.8-) 4-4.4 cm long, 1.2-1.5 cm broad. Lateral sepals adnate to column foot and forming an obtuse, slightly retuse, saccate mentum, (2.8-) 4.5 cm long, 1-1.7 cm broad. Petals narrowly elliptic to oblong-elliptic, acute, glabrous, apex recurved, 2-3.6 cm long, 1.3-1.6 cm broad. Lip deeply 3-lobed, 2.8-3 (-3.2) cm long, 1.4-1.6 cm broad when lateral lobes are flattened; lateral lobes rounded, erect and touching the column, usually about 1.8 cm long, 6 mm high; mid-lobe narrowly elliptic or ovate, obtuse, erose to dentate, apex recurved, usually about 1.2 cm long, 8 mm broad, expanded abruptly from a prominent isthmus 4-5 mm long, 3-4 mm broad; disc thickened at centre; callus prominent, oblong-ovate, retuse, concave below, borne just below base of isthmus and shelving over, but not touching it, 3 mm long, 3 mm broad. Column gently curved, 12-14 mm long, 3 mm broad, minutely papillose, sparsely hairy below stigmatic cavity and also towards the base, foot 5-6 mm long; anther oblong-ovate, cucullate, minutely papil- lose, 4 mm long, 3 mm broad; pollinia 4, unequal.

DISTRIBUTION. Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama, rain forest; altitude c. 300-1,050 m.

Lycaste tricolor (Klotzsch) Rchb. f. in Walp. Ann. 6: 603 (1863); Beitr. Orch. Centr. Am., 28, t. 4, fig. 3-5 (1866); Cogniaux & Goosens, Icon. des Orch. 10, pl. 5 (1897); Rolfe in Orch. Rev. 13: 198 (1905); Allen in Woodson & Schery, Flora of Panama in Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 36: 79, fig. 174 (1949); Williams in Ceiba, 5: 190 (1956); Fowlie, Genus Lycaste, 38-40 (1970). Maxillaria tricolor Klotzsch in Allgem. Gart. Berlin, 20: 185 (1852). Type:

Lycaste horichii Hort. ined. Guatemala, Warscewicz (B, holotype).

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