DENDR0B1UM. 



63 



D. nobile. 



Stems tufted, sub-terete, compressed, jointed, 12 — 20 or more inches 

 long. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, 3—4 inches long, obliquely emarginate, 

 persistent two years. Flowers somewhat variable in colour, Avith a 

 lustrous Avax-like surface, 1\ — 3 inches across, in fascicles of twos 

 and threes ; sepals ligulate ; petals oval-oblong, wavy, the basal area 

 of both sepals and petals usually white, the apical area deeper or 

 paler amethyst-purple, the colour sometimes confined to the tips, some- 

 times extending more than half-way down ; lip with a convolute 

 claw and obovate-oblong blade, downy both above and below, and 

 having a rich maroon-purple disc, surrounded by ■ a yellowish white 

 zone, and an amethyst-purple blotch at the apex. 



Dendrobium nobile, Lindl. Gen. et. Sp. Orch. p. 79 (1831). Id. Sert. torch, t. 3 

 (1838). Paxt. Mag. Bat. VIII. p. 7 (1840). 



Dendrobium nobile. 



var. — ceerulescens . 



Stems shorter and more slender. Flowers smaller and more deeply 

 coloured, the lip with a more oval blade. 



D. nobile cajrulescens, Rcbb. in Walp. Ann. VI. p. 283. D. caerulescens, Lindl 

 Sert. Orch. t. 18. 



var. — C ooksonianum . 



A curious sport in which the petals have a tendency to become 

 metamorphosed into lips, being concave, erect, and parallel with the 

 column like the true labellum, and with a large maroon blotch on the 

 basal half. 



D. nobile Cooksonianum, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. XXIII (1885), p. 692. 



