Notice

Colin Mills, compiler of the Hortus Camdenensis, died in late November 2012 after a short illness. As he always considered the Hortus his legacy, it is his family's intention to keep the site running in perpetuity. It will not, however, be updated in the near future.

Peristeria elata Lindl.

Epiphytic orchid with 3- to 5-leaved pseudo-bulbs, the leaves plicate, and an erect spike, to 90cm, of up to 40 fragrant white flowers, spotted lilac on the base of the lip.  [RHSD, Hortus].

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘In the year 1826, Sir Henry Barnard, Esq. of Truxillo in Peru, communicated to Richard Harrison, Esq. of Liverpool, a bulb of a remarkable, parasitical, orchidaceous plant, which he had found in the neighbourhood of Panama, and the flower of which is there looked upon with no little consideration, and known to the inhabitants by the name of “el Spirito Santo.”  The reason for this appellation was quite obvious on the blossoming of the plant, which did not occur in Mr. Harrison’s stove, until the summer of the present year, 1831, when the centre of the flower exhibited a column which, with its summit or anther, and the projecting gland of the pollen-masses, together with the almost erect wings, bore a striking resemblance to a Dove, the emblem of the third person of the Trinity.  El Spirito Santo was therefore applied by the same people, and in the same religious feeling as, dictated the naming of the “Passion Flower”.’  [BM t.31161831].

History at Camden Park

Peristeria elata was included in a consignment of plants sent from Kew by John Bidwill in November 1843 [AJCP].  It seems likely that these plants were forwarded to William Macarthur at Camden but there is no direct evidence of this plant being grown there.

Notes

Published Jan 27, 2010 - 02:11 PM | Last updated Jan 27, 2010 - 02:18 PM

Figured are pseudo-bulbs, plicate leaves and white flowers, spotted lilac on the lip.  Curtis's Botanical Magazine t.3116, 1831.

Peristeria elata Lindl. | BM t.3116/1831 | BHL

Family Orchidaceae
Category
Region of origin

Panama

Synonyms
Common Name

Dove flower, Holy Ghost flower

Name in the Camden Park Record

Peristeria elata 

Confidence level high