DENDROBIUM. 15 



First sent from New South Wales, in 1823, by Allan Cunningham, 

 to the Royal Gardens at Kew, and occasionally imported since that 

 date with other Australian orchids. It occurs in several localities 

 near the east coast, especially in Macquarie County, south of the 

 Macleay or Hastings river, often on the trunks and among the 

 higher branches of lofty trees, such as the Iron-bark Eucalyptus 

 (E. siderophloiaj , Doryphora Sassafras, etc., flowering in September. 

 Although not to be compared with the gorgeous East Indian 

 Dendrobes usually cultivated, its chaste, fragrant flowers, produced 

 in profusion in the early months of the year in the orchid houses 

 of Europe, should preserve it from neglect. 



D. aggregatum. 



Eudendrobium — Calostachyce. Pseudo-bulbs clustered, ovate-fusiform, 



angular, about 2 inches long, monophyllous. Leaves oval-oblong, 2J — 3 



inches long and 1 inch broad. Peduncles drooping, slender, loosely 



racemose, 7 — 12 flowered. Flowers primrose-yellow when first expanded, 



changing with age to orange-yellow with a deeper disc on the lip ; 



sepals ovate ; petals sub-orbicular, as broad again as the sepals ; lip 



transversely oblong, with a short claw and pubescent disc. Column 



short, coloured like the perianth. 



Dendrobium aggregatum, Roxb. Fl. Ind. III. p. 477 (1832). Bot. Reg. t. 1695 

 (1834). Paxt. Mag. Bot. VI. p. 145 (1839). Bot. Mag. t. 2643. 



Dendrobium aggregatum belongs to the small group with one-leaved 



pseudo-bulbs, in which the inflorescence proceeds from the axil of 



a scale on the side of the pseudo-bulb.* It was discovered by 



Pierard in the early part of the present century on the northern 



border of Arracan, growing on trunks of Lagerstroemia JRegince ; it 



is now known to be widely distributed throughout Burmah, the best 



forms being found on trees among the low ranges of hills north 



of Akjao. Quite recently it has been found by Mr. Charles Ford 



on the Lo-fau-shan Mountains in southern China, growing on Geltis 



japonica. It was introduced by the Horticultural Society of London, 



and flowered for the first time in this country in the collections of 



Mr. Harrison, at Liverpool, and Mr. Bateman, at Knypersley, in 



1834. Its flowering season is March and April ; its specific name 



refers to its clustered, crowded pseudo-bulbs. 



Cultural Note. — Dendrobium aggregatum is best cultivated on a bare 



block. Plants affixed to blocks cut from the elm, thorn, maple, &c, 



have been known to flower annually for many years. 



* Hemsley in Gard. Chron. XVI. (1881), p. 625. 



