ORCIIIDE.E. 159 



sheaths. Flowers in alternate pairs all down the stem, large, 3 inches across. Petals 

 and sepals lanecolate, pink-lilac. Lip full, round, but slightly ])ointed, golden 

 yellow, with a white margin and lilac tip. A very handsome plant. Bliamo and 

 the ^'orth generally. 



D. NODATUJI. 



Stems branched, with swollen joints, which are more apparent in the older 

 stems, rooting at tlie joints. Leaves at the end of the young shoots, oblong lanceo- 

 late. Flowers single. Sepals lanceolate. I'etals ovate, broader. Lips ol)scurely 

 3-lobcd, lateral lobes turned inwards, middle lobe rhomboid, with a blunt point. 

 General colour creamy yellow, that of the lip yellow, deepening to orange in the 

 centre, with two very dark ])urple streaks at the base. Column green and pui'ple. 

 Anther purple. A very free-growing plant. 



D. FiNDLAYAXCir. 



Another Orchid with jointed stems, joints larger upwards and tapering rather 

 suddenly downwards, pear-shaped, with a large brown sheath at each internode. 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, unequally toothed at the point. Peduncles '2-flowered. 

 Sepals linear lanceolate, acute, revolute. Petals ovate, broad. Lip nearly round and 

 iindiviiled, slightly crenatc at the margin. Sepals and petals lilac, deepening towards 

 the tips. Lip pale lilac at the edge, yellow in the centre, with a deep purple stain 

 at the claw. Column striped with the same. Anther white. An elegant plant, 

 first found by ilr. James Findlay on the route to Zimmay, and given by him to me ; 

 hence named after him. 



D. CRASSIXODE. 



stems swollen at the joints to an exaggerated degree, so as to look like a number 

 of flattened spheres with short intervening constrictions. About 1 foot long. A 

 strikingly beautiful Orchid, first discovered by me in the year 1859, on the Shan 

 border, S.E. of Maulmain, in February, when it was in full flower. The whole of a 

 very fine collection, made on that occasion, not of Orchids only, but of other plants, 

 was lost in the Persia, which foundered in the Calcutta lliver. One plant, which 

 I re.served and attached to a tree in my garden, lingered for 2 or 3 years and then 

 died. It was fortunately rediscovered later by Col. Benson, in ihe hills between 

 Thayet-myo and Arakan. It will be seen, by looking at the figure in Bot. Mag. 

 57G6, that the flowers arc there represented as having red-lilac tips to the sepals, 

 petals and lip, while the centre and base of the latter are yellow. A rough drawing 

 of my plant made at the time of discovery shows these colours exactly reversed— \.\\)% 

 yellow and lip red-lilac ! It may be observed here that several Orchids which are 

 found in the jungles S. and E. of Maulmain, reappear in the N. and W., while they 

 soem to be wanting in the intervening districts, notably the plant now tinder 

 discussion, with I). Parishii, B. eburneus, and others. Colour, again, varies oftener 

 than is generally supposed, so as to make it doubtful wisdom to give a distinct name 

 to an Orchid because of such difl'erence merely. "While on the subject of variation, 

 I may take the opportunity of saying that a long aciiuaintancc with this Order has 

 satisfied me, that even the labellum or lip, which is generally esteemed a sure 

 characteristic mark of a species, is liable to considerable difference of form. I will 

 specify two Oi-chids in which this is the case, B. crumenatum and B. hamhusifolium. 

 1 possess drawings, most carefully made, of the labellum of these two plants, and, 

 being made at different times from difl'erent individuals, they display most marked 

 ditferciiccs both in form and colour, ily ojiportunitics of observation were almost 

 unrivalled. Fixed at one station for upwards of 20 years, and having some 150 

 species growing in my garden, fresh supjilies being continually brought in, it was 

 my daily delight to watch their growth ; and hardly a day passed on which I did not 

 either draw or examine microscopically some one Orchid or another, and often tho 

 same species at widely ditt'ereiit times, and brought from widely distant localities. 

 I trust, therefore, that my remarks, here and elsewhere, may be made without 

 presumption, even though they should chance to differ from the opinion of acknow- 

 ledged masters in Orchidologv. 



