e | ne 
Tap. 7974... = Clot f oll 4 
DENDROBIUM Wu.tamsonr. 
Native of North-eastern India. 
Nat. Ord. OrncHIpAcEa.—Tribe EpIpENDRE. 
Genus Drenproxium, Swartz; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 498.) 
Denprosium (§ Formose—Nigro-hirsute) Williamsoni; caulibus erectis 
crassiusculis 6-12 poll. altis polyphyllis foliisque primum nigro-hirsutis, _ 
foliis oblongo-lanceolatis 3-4 poll. longis apice oblique bidentatis flores 
excedentibus, pedunculis subterminalibus sepius bifloris, floribus 2}-3 
poll. diametro eburneis labelli lobis lateralibus splendide aurantiacis, 
sepalis petalisque similibus lanceolatis acutis, labelli barbellati lobis 
rotundatis ciliatis lateralibus minoribus erecto-incurvis terminali recurvo, 
anthera basi antica puberula, columne pede plano. : 
D. Williamsoni, Day & Reichb. f. in Gard. Chron. 1869, p. 78. Hook. f. Fl. 
Brit. Ind. vol. v. p. 721. King & Pantling in Ann. Bot. Gard. Calc. 
vol. v. p. 6, t.9. Day Drawings in Bibl. Kew., vol. xiii. n. 77. 
_ Dendrobium Williamsoni has an interesting history. It 
was discovered in Assam by Mr. W. J. Williamson, a 
nephew of the late Mr. W. Day, to whom he sent a living 
plant in 1868. It flowered in the latter gentleman’s 
notable collection in 1869, and it was described by the late 
Dr. Reichenbach in the place cited above. We are unable 
to trace its course of distribution under cultivation, but it 
is on record that it flowered in the Calcutta Botanic 
Garden in 1879. In March, 1887, an unnamed plant 
flowered at Kew, and Mr. R. A. Rolfe identified it with 
Dendrobium Williamsoni from Reichenbach’s description ; 
but the type being locked up at Vienna, absolute certainty 
Was unattainable. In 1902, Mrs. Wolstenholme, sister of 
the late ‘W. Day, presented that gentleman’s most valuable 
collection of some thousands of drawings of cultivated 
orchids, and Mr. Rolfe’s identification of the plant was 
confirmed by a drawing of the original D. Williamson. 
It may be added here that Day’s drawings include a 
considerable number of the types of Reichenbach’s species 
founded on cultivated specimens, sO that the senseless 
provisions of his will are, to some extent, nullified. 
D. Williamsoni flowered again at Kew in. 1890, and 
_ Sepremper 1st, 1904, : 
