DENDEOBIUM. 71 



var— giganteum. 



Stems longer and more slender, pendulous. Flowers nearly as large 



again as those of the normal form, the lip alone being 2 inches across, 



that organ sometimes veined with pale rose. 



D. primulinutn giganteum, Hort. 



Very nearly allied to Dendrobium Pierardi, from which it is chiefly 



distinguished by its shorter and stouter stems, its nearly equal 



sepals and petals, and its differently shaped lip. It is a native of 



the lower Himalayan zone in Nepaul and Sikkim. The variety 



giganteum is a very distinct form, remarkable for the enormous 



development of the labellum as well as for the other characters 



noted above ; other large-flowered forms of D. primulinum have 



been improperly called giganteum that do not conform to the type 



described above. The specific name refers to the cowslip fragrance 



of the flowers, which expand in February and March. It appears 



to have been introduced about the year 1857. 



D. rhodopterygium. 



Eudbndrobium — Fasciculata. Stems cylindric, erect, 12 — 20 inches 



high. Leaves linear-lanceolate, 2 — 3 inches long. Flowers 2^ inches 



across ; sepals oblong-lanceolate ; petals ovate-oblong, both sepals and 



petals rosy purple mottled with white ; lip sub-orbicular when spread 



out, margin denticulate, deep purple-crimson striated, bordered with 



white, and with a pale central band reaching to the base. 



Dendrobium rhodopterygium, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. III. (1875), p. 684. D. 

 polyphlebium, Rchb. Id. I. s. 3 (1887), p. 702. Williams' Orch. Alb. VII. t. 299. 



An attractive species discovered by Boxall, in 1874, in the Moul- 



mein district of British Burmah, and sent by him to Messrs. Low 



and Co. It was subsequently found by Major-General E. S. Berkeley, 



"on four different occasions," in Burmah, and again described by 



Reichenbach, from one of the plants 'sent home by him, hesitatingly, 



as a supposed natural hybrid between Dendrobium Pierardi and D. 



rhodopterygium, under the name of D. polyphlebium. The plants 



that have come into our possession under this name show, however, 



no tangible difference from those of D. rhodopterygium, and we 



are, therefore, compelled to regard D. polyphlebium as a synonym 



only of D. rhodopterygium. 



D. Ruckeri. 



Eudbndrobium — Fasciculata. Stems slender, 12 — 18 inches long, 

 attenuated below. Leaves linear-lanceolate, acute, 2^ inches long. 



