DENDROBIUM. 55 



form, and a third variety, called robustius by Professor Reichenbach 

 on account of its more robust stems, was introduced by Messrs. Low 

 and Co. from Burmah. D. lituijiorum and its varieties usually flower 

 in April and May. The specific name, from lituus, "a, sort of 

 trumpet," refers to the form of the lip. 



D. Loddigesii. 



Eudendrobium — Fasciculoto. A dwarf, dense, confused plant. Stems 

 about as thick as a goose-quill, 3 — 4 inches long, thickened above, pro- 

 duced from a creeping rhizome. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, 1J — 2 

 inches long. Flowers solitary, about 1^ inches in diameter, on slender 

 pedicels about as long as the leaves; sepals and petals pale rosy lilac, the 

 former oblong, the latter much broader, ovate ; lip with a short convolute 

 claw and orbicular fringed blade, which has a larger orange-yellow 

 disc bordered with pale rosy lilac. Column white above and purple 

 below the stigmatic fovea. 



Dendrobium Loddigesii, Rolfe in Gard. Chron. II. s. 3 (1887), p. 155. D. pul- 

 chellum, Loddiges' Bot. Cab. t. 1935 (1833). Maund. Bot. I. t. 5. Bot. Mag t. 5037. 



A beautiful species, of creeping habit, introduced by Messrs. 

 Loddiges, in 1832 — 33, whose origin and name have been involved 

 in obscurity and confusion almost ever since It has been mixed 

 up and confounded with other species, especially with the Dendrobium 

 pidchellum of Eoxburgh (1830), which has never been introduced into 

 the orchid collections of Europe. So long ago as 1858, Sir William 

 Hooker (Bot. Mag. sub. t. 5037), expressed a doubt as to the identity 

 of the plant in cultivation, under the name of D. pulchellum, with 

 the original D. pulchellum of Eoxburgh, on account of its totally 

 disagreeing in habit and other particulars, and it was not till quite 

 recently that the difficulty has been cleared up; the merit of accom- 

 plishing this is due to Mr. R. A. Rolfe, of the Kew Herbarium, from 

 whose article, published in the Gardeners' Chronicle, loc. cit. supra., 

 we extract the following : — 



"The confusion began with Loddiges, who figured in his Botanical 

 Cabinet, in 1833, as Dendrobium pulchellum, the plant still known in 

 gardens under that name, which is far from being Eoxburgh's plant. 

 Loddiges says it is a native of India, in which, however, he was 

 doubtless simply following Lindley. Maund next figures the same 

 plant from a specimen which flowered in Loddiges' collection at Hack- 

 ney, stating that it is a native of Sylhet, and was introduced about 

 1829 by the Horticultural Society In 1840, D. Devonianum had been 

 described and figured in Paxton's Magazine of Botany, also in the 

 Botanical Magazine, thus furnishing the materials for still further 



