RENANTHERA LOWII Rehb. f 
RENANTHERA Lown, Rchb. f, Xenia, p. 89. Bot. Mag,, 90, t. 5475 ; Fl. des Serres, 2256-7. 
VANDA Lown, Lindl, Ill. Hort, 1864, 417 ; Revue Hort., 1868, 112; Puydt, Les Orchidées, t. 46 ; Lindl. Gard, Chron., 1847, p. 239. 
ARACHNANTHE Lown, Benth. and Hook., Genera Plantarum, iii, p. 573. 
Caulibus robustis subramosis altissime scandentibus, foliis coriaceis ligulatis retusis, spicis simplicibus longissimus pendulis flaccidis multifloris, floribus 
heterogeneis, sepalis petalisque sepius lanceolatis undulatis acutis sed in floribus (duobus) versus basin spice sitis sepalis petalisque carnosis obtusis, 
Icones analytic Labellum. Columna a latere et antice. Pollinarium, Omnia aucta, 
THE Eastern archipelago is peculiarly rich in fine Orchids, but there are few, if any, which surpass our present species in 
beauty and in botanical interest. It has long been an inmate of our hothouses, but has never been at any time or in any 
sense a common plant in our gardens. The plant was discovered by Mr. (now Sir) Hugh Low, in Borneo, about the year 
1846, and it was described by Lindley as Vanda Lowii in the Gardeners’ Chronicle of the following year, but the living 
plants first sent to Europe perished, and many modern attempts to send home this plant alive have failed. The original 
habitat of this noble species is in the British province of Sarawak, near some hot Springs at the foot of the Sirambau or 
Pennijau mountain. Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace saw the plant there some years ago and describes it as then being 
particularly abundant, growing as an epiphyte on the branches of low trees, from which its flower spikes dangle almost to 
the ground. These spikes in nature are generally six to eight feet long, but one spike he measured was nine feet eight 
inches in length and bore thirty-six flowers, spirally arranged-on a slender, hairy, thread-like, drooping stalk, and he 
further remarks that specimens grown in English hothouses have produced flower spikes of equal length, and bearing a 
much larger number of flowers. Pennijau is one of the loveliest spots in a beautiful country, and the copper-coloured Land 
Dyaks who reside there are famous for their fertile orchards of tropical fruit trees. Palm trees rustle and wave their 
feathery leaves in the warm breeze, and every moist rock and moss-grown tree is a botanical garden in miniature. Rajah 
Brooke has, or had, a cottage there perched on a rock high up the mountain side, and from this point a splendid view is 
gained of an immense undulating plain, stretching seaward with the tugged sides of Gunong Santubong towering up in 
the centre of the picture. Such is the home of Low’s beautiful Vanda, Goldsmith tells us that there are horses which look 
well in the stable but are useless on the road, and so likewise there are plants which are glorious in their native haunts 
that are not amenable to good culture under a crystal roof; but our present species cannot be included in this category. 
Our block, taken from the Gardeners’ Chro nzcle, shows habit of Renanthera Lowii, as grown at Ferrigres, 
Mo. Bot. Garden, 
LAOS 
