DENDROBIUM. 5T 
occurs in no other Dendrobium. This is caused by the flower-buds being completely 
enveloped in and concealed by the large imbricate delicate yellow floral bracts. 
There is considerable variation in other provinces in the size of the flowers and in 
their colouring; and this has given origin to several varietal names, such as albo-lutea, 
Schredert and Walkeriana, The most notable variety is the one which was separated 
as a species by Reichenbach under the name D. thyrsiflorum, The structure of the 
flowers in that form is, however, exactly that of typical D. densiflorum; but the sepals, 
instead of being pale yellow, are white suffused with pale lilac, the lip being yellow 
as usual. D. thyrsiflorum has. also more slender stems, and the floral "— are much 
narrower than in typical D. densiflorum. 
PrarE 79.— Dendrobium densiflorum, Wall. Flowering plant, of natural size. Fig. 1 base of the 
lip showing the claw, 2 column and its foot, the anther in situ, 3 a piece of the anterior 
margin of the lip, 4 anther, seen from the side, 5 pollinia; ait enlarged. 
27. DENDROBIUM Farmert, Paxt. Mag. Bot. XV (with fig.); Fl. Gard, Ш, 
р. 104, №, 579. 
Stems clavate, boldly 4- 5-angled, erect; the base slender, the upper part from °75 
to 1 in. in diameter; length 6 to 12 or even 18 in. Leaves two or three, sub-terminal, 
coriaceous, ovate-lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, acute, the base slightly narrowed; length 
3'5 to 8 in, breadth 1:2 to 22 in. aceme sub-terminal, decurved and pendulous, 
much longer than the leaves, laxly many-flowered; the peduncle with imbricate bracts 
at the base and several scattered below the flowers. Flowers 2 in. across; floral bract 
broad, “25 to ‘3 in. long, very much shorter than the stalk of the ovary. Sepals ovate- 
. oblong, Petals much broader than the sepals. Lip orbicular with lateral inflexed folds, 
pubescent, the margin: erose, the base shortly clawed. Column short, its foot also short; 
mentum short, rounded. Walp. Ann. VI, 306; Flores des Serres, VII, t. 741; Jennings’ 
Orchids, t. XXIV; Veitch Man. Dendrob. 42, with fiy.; Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. V, 750. 
D. palpebrae, Ann. Bot. Gard. Calc., Vol V, pt. 1, t. 22. Р, densiflorum, var. alba, 
Regel Garten-flora, - t. 595; var. Farmeri, Regel, аа t. 783; var. albo-lutea, Bot. 
Mag., t. 5780. 2. thyrsiflorum, Regel, Garten-flora, t. 1021. 
Sikkim; at elevations of from 1,000 to 3,000 feet, Pantling No. 116; in flower 
during April and May. Also along the base of the outer range, on sál trees. West- 
ward to Nepal and eastwards to Assam and the Khasia Hills; also in. Burmah. 
_ In Sikkim the colouring of the flowers in this species is pretty constant. The 
sepals and petals when they first expand are of a pale mauve which gradually changes, 
in the course of a few days, to pure white. The lip is always of a deep rich yellow, 
paling towards the margins, and the actual margin is usually white. To this change 
of colour in the same individual flower is no doubt due much of the confusion which 
has occurred as regards the identity of this plant; individuals in the stage in which 
the sepals and petals are white having been mis‘aken for D. thyrsiflorum, Reichb. fil.— 
a Burmese plant which appears to be а form of D. densiflorum, of which it has the 
cone-shaped raceme (while in bud), and the very large convolute floral bracts, but 
differing in having more slender, less boldly-angled, stems, and a white perianth with 
a yellow lip. D. Farmeri has also been confused with the closely allied D. palpebrae, 
Lindl. (also a Burmese species), described in Paxt. Fl, Gard, I, 48, and in Veitch Man. 
Ann. Roy. Вот, GARD., CALCUTTA, Vou, VIII. 
