; 0 ires,a stove epophyte belonging to bromeliads, with scurfy, dry, twisted leaves, and violet flowers issuing from crimson bracts; 1 native of the provence of buenos ayres; 2 (fig; 3 103, a piece of the inflorescence; 4 104, a diminished figure of the plant.) commodore sulivan, c b, who brought it into this country in 1841, on his return from the command of the south american station, presented it to sir charles lemon, bart., m.p., with whom it flowered in march 1846; 5 it is a native of the interior provinces of buenos ayres, high up the parana, and is stated to be greatly prized there for its delicious perfume, although at no period could mr; 6 booth discover that it possessed any fragrance; 7 and it is probable that the statement referred to t; 8 xiphiifolia, - a very different species; 9 like the rest of its tribe, it requires the constant heat of a warm stove, and similar treatment to that which is usually given to epiphytal orchids; 10 it thrives very well when attached to a branch of any soft-wooded tree, and suspended from the roof of the stove; 11 in winter it must be kept dry, but during the rest of the year it can scarcely have too much water; 12 mr; 13 booth describes the present plant thus - roots numerous, round and slender, deep brown, partly adhering to the branches, or spreading horizontally, as if to draw nourishment from the air. leaves broad at the base, closely imbricated, so as to have a sort of bulbous appearance; but otherwise flexuose and recurved, narrow, much longer than the peduncle, spreading and twisted, with the edges so much incurved as to leave only a deep groove from one end to the other; they vary from 9 inches to a foot in length, and are of a deep green, closely covered with brownish red blotches, and speckled with minute white scurfs; the peduncle rises from the centre of the leaves, and is about 6 inches high, round at the base, and covered with several sheathing leaves, which closely embrace it; near the top, it enlarges, and becomes two-sided, with moderately large oblong acuminate sheathing, imbricated bracts, of a brilliant red, tinged with brownish-green at the base; the flowers, which appear to be only two in number, issue from underneath the third and fourth bract from the top; they are erect, of a purplish lilac colour, and rather more than an inch long; sepals! petals three, united at the base, but so arranged, from being convolute as to form a kind of tube, very slightly recurved at the point. stamens: filament of the same purplish colour as the petals, comparatively broad and thin, and projecting about a quarter of an inch beyond the tube. pistil: style the same length as the filaments, but round, and of a pale colour, excepting at the extremity, which is a greenish-yellow, and 3-lobed.Edited from : Paxt. Flow. Gard.. (protologue) .