76 ORCHIDS. 
B. barbigerum.—An interesting little plant, with pseudo- 
bulbs less than rin.in diameter, bearing one oblong, fleshy 
leaf. The flower-spike springs from the base of the pseudo- 
bulb, and carries eight to twelve flowers. The sepals are 
pointed, and of a chocolate-brown colour; the petals small 
and inconspicuous; and the lip, which is long and narrow, 
is of a yellowish tint, terminating in a brush of dark purple, 
silk-like hairs. The lip is set in a rocking motion by the 
least current of air. Introduced from Sierra Leone in 1836. 
Plate ; Botanical Magazine, t. 5288. 
B. Beccariii—This is one of the most extraordinary 
members, not only of the Orchid family, but of the whole 
Vegetable Kingdom. Its flowers have the reputation of 
giving off the vilest odour of any known plant. It. is a 
gigantic Orchid, with rhizomes big enough to encircle the 
large trees on which it grows—resembling, it is said, the 
coils of a serpent. The leaf is the largest of any of the 
Orchidacez, measuring 2ft.in length by r13ft. in breadth; it 
is also very thick and leathery. The flowers are produced 
in dense, pendulous racemes, measure 4in. in diameter, and 
are, in the main, yellow. When this plant was first flowered 
at Kew, a few years ago, the stench from the flowers was 
so powerful as to render the Orchid-house unbearable, and a 
lady who attempted to make a drawing of it fainted because 
of the smell. Originally found by Thomas Lobb in Borneo, 
in 1853, and again by Doctor Beccari, in 1867. 
Botanical Magazine, t. 6567. 
B. calamarium.—A pretty little plant, with short, dark 
green, leathery leaves, roundish pseudo-bulbs, and a slender 
scape ft. to 13ft. high, bearing a spike of yellow and 
purple flowers 4in. long; the lip deeply and elegantly 
fringed. A native of Sierra Leone; introduced in 1843. 
Botanical Magazine, t. 4088. 
