type-specimen of A. rigida must be a Nepalese plant, and the 
type-specimen of Lindley’s Vanda multiflora Lindl., of which 
Lindley considered Aerides rigida Buch.-Ham. ex Smith a 
synonym, clearly was a plant from the Far East, originating in 
China. Earlier, Senghas (1964: 165), when uniting a series of 
African taxa under Acampe pachyglossa Rchb.f., remarked that 
he could not see any differences in the flowers of the African 
plants and those from Sikkim which he also called Acampe 
longifolia. 
Consequently, when revising the treatment of Acampe in 
“Orchids of Thailand’’, I felt it necessary to investigate this 
problem more deeply. This led me not only far away from 
Thailand, but into an area with insufficient material for study. 
As stated above, volume 12 of ‘‘ Hortus Indicus Malabaricus”’ 
was prepared for printing before Rheede died. The effective 
publication, however, took place only in 1703, according to the 
title page. Commelin in his ‘Flora Malabarica’’, the preface of 
which is dated December 1696 (Warner 1920: 292), has already 
cited all the plates of Rheede, including those in volume 12. 
Also, Rudbeck in his ‘‘Campi Elysii, liber secundus’’, published 
in 1701 (p. 222, Fig. VIID, cited Rheede’s figure under the 
polynomial ‘‘Orchis abortiva flor: luteis minoribus, radiis rubris 
O.R.”’. 
I believe Linné was the first to complicate matters. In his 
second edition of ‘‘Species Plantarum’’ (1763: 1348), he based 
his Epidendrum fulvum on Rhumphius’s figure of Angraecum 
octavum & fulvum (Rhumphius 1750, Vol. 6: t. 46, Fig. 1), but he 
wrongly included Rheede’s figure of Thalia. The error was 
obvious and was soon rectified. I have not followed that trail 
since it leads to another problem surrounding Vanda Roxburghii 
and its allies. 
In 1795, Roxburgh identified one of his Coromandel plants 
with Rheede’s Thalia Maravara and applying the Linnean 
binominal system, called it Epidendrum praemorsum Roxb. 
(Corom. Pl. 1,2: 34, t.43,1795). Comparing the pictures and 
considering the habitat, | see no reason to doubt Roxburgh’s 
judgment and his epithet must, therefore, be associated with 
Thalia Maravara. We need only to note in passing that Swartz 
(1799: 75) called the plant Cymbidium praemorsum (Roxb.) Sw., 
which name was maintained until 1818, when J. E. Smith (Rees 
Cycl. 39, 1819), transferred it to Aerides with a new name: 
50 
