Aspasia
(from aspazomai, I embrace; the column embraced by the labellum). SYN. Trophianthus. ORD. Orchideae. A genus of elegant, stove, Epidendrum-like, epiphytal Orchids, with the lip united to the column, and broad, thin pseudo-bulbs. The name Aspasia is now and then met with attached to another genus. Salisbury gave it to a liliaceous plant which is now referred to Ornithogalum. For culture and propagation, see Stanhopea.
A. epidondroides (Epidendrum-like).* fl. whitish yellow; sepals linear oblong, acute; petals obtuse, concave, lateral lobes of lip roundish, entire, middle lobe crenated emarginate. February. Pseudo-bulbs oblong, two-edged. h. 1ft. Panama, 1833.
A. lunata (crescent-marked).* fl. green, white, and brown, solitary; sepals and petals linear obtuse, spreading; lip three-lobed, lateral lobes short, middle one flat, nearly square, wavy. February. Pseudo-bulbs oblong, two-edged. h. 1ft. Rio Janeiro, 1843.
A. papilionacea (butterfly-like).* fl., sepals and petals yellowish, mottled with brown lines on their internal inferior halves; lip fiddle-shape, its back very great, elliptic, apiculate; an orange-coloured area stands at its base, a wide violet disc before and around it. h. 9in. Costa Rica, 1876. Distinguished from A. lunata in having thirteen keels at the base of the lip, which is higher inserted, and in the echinulate anther. It is a beautiful but rare novelty.
A. psittacina (parrot-like).* fl., sepals and petals light green, with brown transverse bars, which sometimes consist of separate stripes, at other times of confluent ones; the fiddle-shaped lip shows two keels and a few purplish dots over its top; the column is brown at its top, then violet, and white at the base. Ecuador, 1878. It has a raceme of several flowers, usually one-sided, bent over.
A. variegate (variegated).* fl. green, spotted with yellowish red; sepals linear oblong; petals somewhat rhomboid, acute; lateral lobes of lip recurved, middle one fleshy, serrated, February. h. 9in. Panama, 1836. Deliciously sweet-scented in the morning.