t 
Coll. S. Schoggers in horto priv. Soekaboemi. 
Our figures represent a normal leaf (fig. 4) and another grown 
together with the spadix (fig. 5) on Plates VI and VII; they 
have been copied from photographs. 
In ordinary circumstances the axillary inflorescence, so very 
peculiar by its bundle of stamens surrounding the female flowers, 
is long-stalked and projecting far beyond the youngest leaf. 
In our case stalk and petiole are united a long way up viz. 
about 9 d.M. Just under the spadix the cicatrices of the — in 
this family multiple — spatha are easily to be distinguished. It 
is well known that the leaves of this species, indigenous in 
Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and New-Granada, furnish the material for 
the fabrication of Panama-hats. 
ORCHIDACEAE. 
Dendrobium mutabile Lindl. 
Habitat Java. 
Coll. J. J. Smith in horto bogor. 
In specimens of this plant imported from “othr = generally 
cooler — regions to Buitenzorg, the following phenomenon may 
nearly always be observed: on the older stems, in this as well 
as in other species of Dendrobium appear root-bearing leafshoots, 
which behave like new plants, especially when they have an 
opportunity of fastening themselves on some substratum.!) In 
the specimens which have lately been brought to Buitenzorg 
the shoots show moreover a sort of ,,biastrepsis” or twisting 
of the stem. The sheaths of the lowest leaves, which in ordinary 
circumstances are tubular and quite amplexicaulous, are in our 
case open and coalesce side to side so as to form a continuous 
spire (fig. 6), from which the blades spring separately. On closer 
examination it appears that there are in this way six leaves 
inserted on the compound sheath, the latter twisting one and 
a half times round the stem and bearing the leafblades on the 
free margin. Inside the sheath the stem appears to be twisted. 
1) Compare Ann. du jardin botanique de Buitenzorg, 2e Série, Vol. IV, p. 76. 
