49 



86. DENDROBlUM formosum. 



Wallich pi. as. rar. 1 . t. 39. 



This noble plant, whose large ivory-white flowers are un- 

 rivalled for beauty, in even the rich Flora of India, was sent 

 from Chatsworth on the 12th of May : having been imported 

 for the Duke of Devonshire, by Mr. Gibson, His Grace's col- 

 lector in the East Indies. The flowers grow at the end of a 

 leafy stem, and are between three and four inches in expan- 

 sion, with every part of the purest and most transparent 

 white, except one delicate lozenge-shaped, buff-coloured 

 blotch in the centre of the lip. Neither the form nor the 

 colour of this is correctly given in Dr. Wallich's work above 

 quoted. It has been sometimes said that the Flora of South 

 America is richer in beautiful Orchidaceous plants than 

 that of India, and an appeal has been made to the Cattleyas, 

 Epidendra, Oncidiums, and Maxillarias of the former coun- 

 try. But I know of no South American species so admirably 

 formed and coloured as India can produce in the case of 

 Dendrobia of various kinds, Saccolabiums, and species of the 

 genera Phaius, Vanda, Ccelogyne, and Grammatophyllum. 

 Of these Dendrobium formosum must stand among the 

 foremost in point of beauty. 



87. EPIDENDRUM ionosmum. 



E. ionosmum ; pseudobulbis diphyllis scapo apice simplici racemoso breviori- 

 bus. sepalis petalisque coriaceis obovatis concavis obtusis subaequalibus, 

 labelli trilobi liberi lobis lateralibus erectis oblongis columnam amplexan- 

 tibus apice rotundatis undulatis coloratis striatis intermedio subrotundo 

 emarginato crispo : lineis duabus elevatis prope basin unica angustiore apici 

 propiore, columna antice bicorni. 



The Western world wants no violets where this charming 

 plant is found, for it fills the air with a fragrance as delicate 

 and delicious as that of our favourite wild-flower. The 

 blossoms are rather large for an Epidendrum of this class, a 

 dull reddish green, with the lip delicately streaked with deep 

 lilac. Messrs. Loddiges imported it from Essequibo. 



G. July 1838. 



