296 MR. G. BENTHAM ON ORCHIDE^. 



group, Hexalectris, Eafin., established on the Bletia apTiylla, 

 !N"utt., has eight pollen-masses connected by a rather abundant 

 granular appendage. This character has caused it to be referred 

 to Bletia, and to be included by Blume in his admirable illustra- 

 tions of Javan Orchideae, where it is introduced for the purpose 

 of comparison with the Old- World genus Phaius. Hexalectris, 

 however, not only agrees much better with Corallorhiza in habit 

 and general floral characters as well as in the capsule, but even 

 the pollen-masses have the shape and position much more of 

 Liparidese than of Bletieae. 



Subtribe 4. Dendrobie.^. — In this subtribe there are either 

 four collateral, more or less parallelly compressed, pollen-masses, 

 without the points or short caudicles of Erieae or the pollinary 

 appendage of Laelieae, or sometimes the four are reduced to two 

 by the more or less complete union of the two of each cell. The 

 inflorescence is normally lateral (the peduncles or leafless scapes 

 either axillary or distinct from the leaf-bearing stems), and the 

 flowers have almost always a prominent mentum, the column 

 being more or less produced at the base. The form of the pollen- 

 masses is somewhat modified in the smaller monotypic genera 

 Drymoda, Bendrocliilum, Panisea, and Acrochcene, and the lateral 

 inflorescence is doubtful in a few species of JDendrobium ; other- 

 wise the subtribe is fairly distinct and easy to recognize. The 

 plants are all (except, sometimes, Chrysoglossum and Collabium) 

 epiphytical, and generally either pseudobulbous or with fleshy 

 leaf-stems. They are all tropical and limited to the Indo- 

 Australian or Mascarene regions, except Bulbophyllum, which is 

 well represented in Africa and sparingly in tropical America. 



The largest genus, JDendrobium, including at present nearly 200 

 species, is distinguished chiefly by the inflorescence, the pedun- 

 cles proceeding always from the leaf-bearing stems or pseudo- 

 bulbs, either lateral or apparently (perhaps sometimes really) 

 terminal. When the inflorescence is lateral, in this genus as in 

 some others of Erieae or of some subtribes of Vandea?, it is often 

 described as leaf-opposed ; and so would it at first sight appear to 

 be, for the leaf-sheaths are often very thin and closely cover the 

 whole internode, the lamina starting from the top of the sheath 

 close to the commencement of the leaf-sheath next above it, while 

 the peduncle, really axillary in the base of the sheath, breaks its 

 way through much below the lamina, and often but just above the 

 opposite lamina of the lower leaf. 



Blume proposed separating from Bendrobium no less than nine 



