CHAPTER -XXTES 
DENDROBIUM. 
THIS genus has supplied a larger number of beautiful garden 
Orchids than any other among those which are natives of 
the Old World. Between 300 and 400 species are known, 
about 100 of which are cultivated in English collections, 
and amongst these are many Orchids which, for beauty 
of flowers, are unsurpassed in the whole Vegetable 
Kingdom. There is a great range of variation in the 
principal characters of the genus—size, habit, form of 
stem and leaf, shape and colour of flowers, all showing 
considerable diversity. 
The pseudo-bulbs of Dendrobiums exhibit a wonderful 
range of form from a small, thin, wiry stem to a strong, woody 
pseudo-bulb as tall as a man, and as thick as one’s wrist. 
Species with the habit and appearance of Epidendrums, 
Cattleyas, Coelogynes, &c., are known. The Bamboo-like 
stem is most frequent among those in cultivation, others 
being club-shaped or ovate; they are always marked with 
ring-like scars, called joints, and they are either pendulous 
or erect. The foliage is strap-shaped or ovate, or sometimes 
very narrow and grass-like, and it is either deciduous or 
persistent till the pseudo-bulbs perish. The flowers are 
borne in lateral’ or terminal bunches, sometimes singly, 
