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DENDROBIUM cucumeriniim. 

 Cucumber Dendrohium. 



GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. 



Nat. ord. OucHiDACE.E, § Malaxide.e. 

 DENDROBIUM. Swartz. 



D. cucumerinum (W, MacLeay in litt. Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1842, misc. C3.); 

 nanum, intricatum, ceespitosum, ramis brevissimis articulatis cylindra- 

 ceis monophyllis, foliis oblongis teretibus seriatim tuberculatis, pedun- 

 culis brevissimis trifloris, sepalis petalisque linearibus acuminatis obtusis, 

 labelli trilobi lobis lateralibus triangularibus intermedio ovato crispato 

 lamellis 5 undulatis in medio, clinandrio denticulate. 



A native of New Holland, whence it was sent to Messrs. 

 Loddiges from Mr. Wm. MacLeay. Of the locality for it in 

 that country we are uninformed. It very much resembles a 

 heap of little cucumbers, whence the name has been derived. 

 Those bodies are apparently leaves, terminating the short 

 articulated stems : but they require further examination, for 

 they may be of the nature of pseudobulbs. This, however, is 

 a point our opportunities do not permit us to settle. 



The flowers appear from the base of the cucumbers in 

 threes. They are dirty white, with long narrow sepals and 

 petals striped with pink, and a three-lobed lip, whose middle 

 division is crisped very much, and five wavy elevated ridges 

 along its middle. 



Fig. 1. represents the inside of the lip; 2. the column ; 

 and 3. the pollen- masses. 



It is very much to be wished that the genus Dendrohium 

 could be subdivided upon some such principles as have been 

 lately applied to Maxillaria ; for it consists of plants having 

 an extraordinary diversity of appearance ; and the New 

 Hollanders in particular are quite a set apart. But we have 

 sought in vain, up to the present time, to find good generic 



