48 ORCHIDS OF THE SIKKIM-HIMALAYA. 
19. DENDROBIUM cREPIDATUM, Lindl. in Paxt. Fl. Gard. I, 63, fig. 45. 
Stems pendulous, striate, green and white, thin at the base, thickened upwards, 
covered when dry with the long thin scarious sheaths of fallen leaves; length 6 to 18 in. 
Leaves linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 2 to 4 in. long, breadth 4 to “біп. Fiowers "75 
to lin. in diam., solitary or two or three on very short bracteate peduncles from the 
very slightly swollen nodes of the leafless stems; the stalked ovaries divergent, 
very long, purple. Sepals broadly oblong, subequal, sub-obtuse. Petals broadly 
` ovate, not longer than the sepals. Jip broadly obovate, pubescent, the edges undu- 
late; the apex broad, sometimes retuse; the base narrowed to a short claw with a 
short transverse ridge in front of it and a small pit behind. Column very short, 
broad ; mentum short, obtuse. Ап е” very convex. Capsule clavate, 1:75 in. long. 
Bot. Mag., t. 4993, 5011. Veitch Man. Dendrob. 33; Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. V, 740. 
D. Lawanum, Lindl. in Journ. Linn. Soc, ІП, 10; Dalz. and Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 261. 
Dendrochilum roseum, Dalz. in Hook. Kew Journ. IV (1852). 291. 
Sikkim; in tropical valleys ascending to 3,500 feet; Pantling No. 808; in flower 
in April and May. Assam and Khasia Hills; also in Upper Burmah, and in the 
Conean and Canara in Southern India. 
The flowers of this are either pink or white, the lip having a large yellow spot 
on it. 'The species as found in Assam and the Khasia Hills has rather handsome 
flowers, but the form found in Sikkim is unattractive in appearance. It is very 
interesting, however, ав an example of a Dendrobium which is usually, if not in- 
variably, self-fertile. An examination of many flowers by Mr. Pantling showed that 
the pollinia had left the anther, and that the pollen had begun to disappear in the 
tissues of the stigma before the bud had fully opened. Fig. 3 shows the condition in 
а bud just about to open. In a plant brought from the Khasia Hills in February 
of the present year, and which flowered at Mongpoo during the following April, the 
flowers were of the usual Assam and Khasia type. They were large, handsome, and 
remained fully expanded for five days, during which time no change occurred in the 
column of any of them; but not one of them was self-fertile. The Sikkim plant 
thus appears to owe its mean appearance to the fact that it is self-fertile, and to 
represent a stage in the transition to cleistogamy. 
Pirate 66.— Dendrobium crepidatum, Lindl. A plant, of natural size. Fig. 1 a flower, 2 lip, 
3 column and its foot, the anther displaced and showing the absorption of the pollinia in the stigma, 
4 anther, 5 pollinia; ай enlarged; 6 a leaf, of natural size. | 
13. DENDROBIUM apuncum, Wall. in Bot. Reg. 1842, Misc. 62, 1846, t. 15. 
Stems branching or viviparous, thinner than a goose-quill, pendulous, 1 to 2 feet long. 
Leaves narrowly lanceolate, acute or acuminate, obliquely and minutely bifid; length 
2 to 3 іп, breadth :35 to "75 in. Flowers -75 to ‘9 in. long, in short flexuose 
racemes from the naked stems, the rachis between the flowers zigzagged and with several 
minute membranous scales; foral bract sheathing, obtuse, much shorter than the stalked 
ovary. Dorsal sepal ovate, acute; the lateral pair larger, triangular sub-rhomboidal. 
Petals similar to the dorsal sepal, but broader. Lip shorter than the lateral sepals, 
adpressed to the column, broadly elliptic, concave, its apex abruptly acuminate, its 
inner surface pubescent but for a square glistering area near the short decurved claw. 
