DENDKOBIUM. 301 



racemes, the individiial blossoms being long-stalked, three 

 inches across, and of a rich golden yellow colour, having 

 on the crispulate fringed lip a large sanguineous purple central 

 reniform blotch, with a few crimson bars on each side behind 

 it. It is very free-blooming, and we have seen three spikes 

 on a single stem. It blooms during May and June, and lasts 

 two or three weeks in full beauty. This is a grand plant 

 for exhibition purposes, as its bright yellow flowers form a 

 striking contrast when exhibited amongst other Orchids. — 

 Zipper Biirmah. 



¥iG.—Xenia Orch., iii. t. 202 ; Garden, 1878, 166, t. 116 ; Orchid Album, 

 1. t. 13. 



D. SUperbiens, Echb. f. — This magnificent species is 

 undoubtedly one of the most charming of all the Dendrobes. 

 It is a most profuse bloomer, and as a proof of its free- 

 flowering quality, we may here state that since we imported 

 the plant in 1877 it has never been without flowers. This 

 Dendrobe has the peculiarity of blooming from the old stems 

 at the same time as from the new ones, and frequently repeats 

 this freak of nature for several years in succession, so much so 

 that we have counted as many as fifteen old spikes on a stem. 

 In addition to this it flowers in a very young state, when the 

 stems are scarcely six inches high. These stems when fully 

 grown are from two to three feet high, and about three inches 

 in circumference, furnished with thick oblong acute leaves. 

 The flowers are produced from fifteen to twenty-five at a time 

 in long racemes, the sepals being dark purple, beautifully 

 reticulated, and having a whitish border, the petals of a 

 beautiful warm purple, longer than the sepals, and the lip a 

 warm purple, with five keels on the disk. The flowers last 

 three months in perfection. This plant is best grown in a 

 basket or pan suspended from the roof. It delights in sun- 

 shine, and we have grown it most successfully in a stove 

 where Crotons and such-like plants were cultivated. — Torrea 

 Straits. 



Fig.— Floral Mag., 2 ser., t. 291 ; Gard. Chron., N.S., ix. 49, fig. 9. 



D. superbum, Echb. f. — A noble and very handsome deci- 

 duous species of pendulous habit, losing its ovate-oblong 

 obtuse leaves just as it begins to show its flower-buds. The 

 spreading or drooping stems grow about two feet long, and 

 from these the flowers proceed in a row on each side ; they 

 are of a pale purplish or lilac -rose colour, each three or four 



