Paphinia cristata, _Lindley_, _Botanical Register_, 1843, misc. 14; _Lyons_, _Treatise on Orchidaceous Plants_, 203; _Van Houtte_, _Flore des Serres_, iv., t. 335; _Hooker_, _Botanical Magazine_, t. 4836; _Reichenbach fil._, in _Walpers’ Annales Botanices Systematicæ_, vi., 614; _Williams_, _Orchid Grower’s Manual_, 5 ed., 265; _Bateman_, _2nd Century of Orchidaceous Plants_, t. 117.
Maxillaria cristata, _Lindley_, _Botanical Register_, t. 1811.
_Paphinia_ is a genus of very limited extent, and of which but few species are at present known. That now before us is a very old and familiar species, one of the best known amongst them, and a singularly handsome little plant. It was the _Maxillaria cristata_ of early Orchid days, and considerable quantities of it were formerly imported, but it has now become very rare. We have flowered several plants during the past year at the Victoria Nursery, where they were greatly admired by those who saw them. It is a plant which comparatively few persons interested in Orchids have met with in blossom, and of which our plate gives a very correct representation. The flowers are remarkably curious, not only for their structure, but also for their colouring, as will be seen by reference to our illustration. The plant has, moreover, a very peculiar mode of throwing out its flower-spikes.
We have also flowered _Paphinia rugosa_, another very singular and pretty plant, after the same style, but differing in colour, and well worth cultivation. They occupy but little space in the Orchid-houses, and are best grown in small pans suspended near the glass where they have the full benefit of the light, but must be shaded from the sun since their thin-textured leaves would suffer injury from too complete an exposure.
_Paphinia cristata_, is a low-growing plant, with small shiny pseudobulbs, and light green plicate foliage about eight inches in height. It is a free-blooming species, generally producing three flowers on a scape which proceeds from the base of the pseudobulb after that has completed its growth. The flowers last in beauty for about a fortnight, and are produced at different periods of the year. The sepals and petals are nearly covered with transverse parallel lines of dark chocolate-purple on a creamy yellow ground; the lip is coloured in a similar manner, and furnished with some curious tufted fringes.