ORCHIDACEiE 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE GENUS 

 DENDROCHILUM 



IN WHICH A NEW SECTION IS PROPOSED AND FOUR NEW 

 SPECIES ARE DESCRIBED 



THE division of the genus Dendrochilum into five subgen- 

 era by Pfitzer and Kriinzlin* is based primarily on pecul- 

 iarities of the vegetative structure and secondarily on characters 

 of the gynostemium and labellum. The spirit of this treatment 

 is in full accord with the views clearly expressed by Pfitzer in 

 his Entwurf einer naturlichen Anordnung der Orchideen{lSS7), 

 where he says that the vegetative parts of the Orchidaceas are 

 the most reliable for a natural classification of the genera, and 

 that the floral parts, being of a less stable nature, are not to be 

 relied on to any great extent, if we except the larger divisions of 

 the family. 



A profound knowledge of the morphology of the Orchidaceas 

 is, of course, indispensable in all critical work tending toward a 

 rational classification. Without it, serious blunders must of ne- 

 cessity creep in and vitiate results. The vegetative parts of or- 

 chids, however, are frequently the most puzzling to interpret 

 correctly in a system of classification based in the main upon 

 them, and have led to unfortunate errors in judgment where the 

 genus Dendrochilum is concerned. In 1888, when Pfitzer's ar- 

 rangement of orchid genera appeared in Engler and Prantl's Die 



*Das Pflanzenreich, 32 Heft (iv. 50. ii. B. 7). 



