MR. H. N. RIDLEY ON THE GENUS BROMHEADIA, 333 
finished elongating itself and producing flowers. The plants all 
produce their flowers at the same time, so that when one plant 
is in flower one may be certain that the others are so also, and, 
conversely, when one plant is not flowering, it is almost useless 
to examine any other plants, even in different parts of the garden. 
This phenomenon is not confined to Bromheadias; it is very 
well known in the case of Dendrobium crumenatum, Lindl., which 
flowers here with striking regularity. At certain intervals, 
about once in six weeks, every plant in the district may be 
observed covered with buds; the next day every tree is white 
with the blossoms, which fade towards evening ; and on the fol- 
lowing day it is impossible to find any but withered flowers. 
Some Ericas and other Orchids do the like. Bromheadia palus- 
tris is comparatively seldom out of flower; B. alticola is a rare 
flowerer. The flowers of the latter species much resemble those 
of B. palustris; but, besides being small, have less purple and 
yellow on the lip. The capsule is much like that of B. palustris, 
but a little longer, the ribs elevated, and the grooves between 
them more obscure. 
B. aporoides, Reichb.f., I have only once met with. It was grow- 
ing upon a lofty Serayah tree (Hopea sp.) which had been felled, in 
company with the last-named species. I have not seen the type 
specimen of the plant described by Reichenbach in * Otia Ham- 
burgensia'; but his description applies to our plant very well, 
and I have no doubt that it is the same thing. It forms a large 
tufted mat about a foot across. The stems are erect, short, 
flattened, and covered with distichous, stiff, equitant, recurved 
leaves quite pungent at the apices. The flowers are smaller than 
those of the other species, greenish white, with purplish and 
yellow stains on the lip; they arise singly from a terminal tuft 
of brown sheaths, almost sessile in the terminal leaves, and 
appear more rarely than in the other species. The whole plant 
is very dissimilar even to B. alticola, and would easily be taken 
for an Oxystophyllum, even when in flower. 
Now here we have a genus which includes plants closely allied 
but differing much in habit of life, so that it is interesting to see 
what differences in structure are correlated with different habitats. 
One of the first noteworthy points of the difference between the 
epiphytes and terrestrial species is that in the former the laminæ 
of the leaves are articulated with the sheath so as to drop off ou 
withering, while in the terrestrial they wither on the stem. A 
2x2 
