64 



DENDROBIUM formSsum. 

 Beautiful Tree-bloom. 



GYNANDRIA MONANDBIA. 



Nat. Ord. Orchidace^, § Malaxide^. 

 DENDROBIUM. Botanical Register, vol. 7 . fol. 548. 



D. formosum ; caulibus teretibus pendulis pilosis, foliis distichis ovatis apice 

 oblique emarginatis obtusis, racemo brevi terminali 4-5-floro, bracteis bre- 

 viljus ovatis, (floribus maximis), sepalis oblongis acutis : lateralibus basi 

 longe productis, petalis duplo latioribus acutis, labello obovato dilatato 

 retuso cum basi columnae in calcar obtusum connate. Lindley in Wall. 

 PL As. Rar. p. 34. t. 39. 



D. formosum. Roxb. Ft. Ind. iii. 485. Wall. Cat. no. 1998. 



This magnificent species flowered at Chats worth, in May 

 1838, and the drawing on the opposite page was then made 

 from a specimen given me by his Grace the Duke of Devon- 

 shire. As a white flowered epiphyte, it is ahnost unrivalled 

 among Asiatic Orchidaceae, the Phalcenopsis amahilis being 

 the only one that can enter into comparison with it. 



It has been already amply described by Drs. Roxburgh 

 and Wallich ; the former tells us he found it on trees in the 

 forests of Sylhet, and in the Garrow mountains, flowering in 

 April and May. 



It was gathered by Dr. Wallich on the mountains of 

 Nepal and Sylhet ; also in the province of Martaban near 

 Moulmein, and in Tavoy on the Tenasserim coast, flowering 

 and fruiting in both the dry and rainy seasons. Mr. Grif- 

 fith also met with it on trees in damp places in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Moulmein ; so that its range is unusually ex- 

 tensive for plants of this kind ; it does not however appear 

 to belong to the Flora of the Indian Archipelago. Dr. 

 Wallich says it grows generally in large tufts upon trees, 



