DENDROBIUM. iO 



A native of Australia, confined chiefly to the neighbourhood of the 

 east coast, where it is frequent on the banks of streams from Port 

 Bowen southwards to Cape Howe. It was one of the first Austra- 

 lian Dendrobes introduced into British gardens, it having been sent 

 to Kew in the spring of 1823, by Allan Cunningham. The variety 

 Bancroftianum was sent from Brisbane, by Dr. Bancroft, in 1881, to 

 Mr. Christy, of Fenchurch Street. The variety Hillii is also a 

 Queensland form, found in the neighbourhood of Moreton Bay ; 

 it is dedicated to the late Mr. Walter Hill, superintendent of the 

 Botanic Garden, Brisbane; it is an excellent horticultural subject, 

 and when successfully cultivated forms a striking object while in 

 flower ; its racemes are the largest and most massive yet seen 

 in the genus. Dendrobium speciosum and its varieties usually flower 

 in February and March. 



D. Stratiotes. 



Stachyobium — Speciosce. Stems fusiform or sub-cylindric, much atten- 

 uated upwards, 15 — 20 inches high, jointed, the nodes slightly depressed. 

 Leaves very leathery, oblong-lanceolate, 4 — 5 inches long. Eacemes 5 — 7 

 or more flowered. Flowers 2| — 3 inches across from the tip of the 

 dorsal sepal to the apex of the lip, on greenish white pedicels ; sepals 

 cream-white, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, the dorsal one twisted, 

 the lateral two falcate, undulate ; petals linear, longer than the sepals, 

 twisted, pale yellow-green ; lip three-lobed, white streaked with purple ; 

 the side lobes rotund, erect ; the middle lobe cordate, acuminate, 

 depressed ; spur funnel-shaped, slightly recurved. 



Dendrobium Stratiotes, Kchb. in Gard. Chron. XXV. (1886), p. 266. Id. icon, 

 xyl. XXVI. p. 177. 



A distinct and beautiful species, discovered by the Lindenian 

 collectors in the Sundaic Archipelago (presumably western New 

 Guinea), and introduced by the Compagnie Continentale d' Horticul- 

 ture in 1885. Its flowers, which appear in the autumn months, 

 are very persistent, continuing in perfection for several weeks. The 

 specific name is literally " soldier," and refers to the tufts of formal 

 erect stems, a character by which the plant may be easily recognised. 



D. Strebloceras. 



Stachyobium — Speciosce. Stems produced from a stout rhizome as thick 

 as a man's finger, terete, attenuated upwards, 24 — 36 inches high, leafy 

 along the upper third of their length Leaves oblong-lanceolate, 6 inches 

 long, leathery, curved. Racemes produced from the uppermost joints, 



