PHAIUS. 11 



water may be used, but during the season of rest only suflEicient 

 water should be given to keep the compost moist. The temperature 

 of the intermediate house is sufficient, that is to say, a range of about 

 13° — 20° C. (55° — 70^ F.) by fire heat, according to the season of 

 the year. The plants should not be exposed to direct sunlight during 

 the summer months ; it is not unusual to place them in a shady 

 position in the East India house during active growth, or even in an 

 ordinary stove. All the species of Phaius described below usually 

 flower in March and April, with the exception of Phaius hiherculosus, 

 which generally flowers earlier. 



Phaius grandifolius. 



Pseudo-bulbs ovate, as large as a large hyacinth bulb, and sheathed 

 by the imbricating bases of the fallen leaves. Leaves 4 — 6, oblong- 

 lanceolate, acute, petiolate, 30 — 40 inches long. Scapes stout, 3 — 4 feet 

 high, terminating in a 12 — 18 flowered raceme. Flowers 3 — 4 inches 

 across ; sepals and petals oblong-lanceolate, acute, distinctly nerved, 

 yelloAV-brown on the inner side, silvery white behind ; lip broadly 

 obovate, convolute into a tube to three-fourths of its length, whitish 

 without, pale yellow-brown bordered with rose-purple on the inner side ; 

 anterior part open, rose-purple bordered with white ; disk yellow 

 streaked with red-purple ; spur short, curved. 



Phaius grandifolius, Loiu-. Fl. Coch. Ch. TI. p. 529 (1790). Bot. Reg. 1839, 

 misc. 40. Hook. Ce^it. Orch. t. 37. Van Houtte's Fl. dcs Serves, VII. t. 738. 

 Benth. Fl. austral. YI. p. 304. P. australis, P. leucophseus, P. Carronii, F. Muel, 

 Bletia Tankervilleffi. K. Br. in Hort. Kew, ed. 2, vol. V. p. 205. Bot. Mag. t. 1924. 

 Limodorum Tankervilli;ij, Ait. Hort. Kew, ed. I. vol. III. p. 302, t. 12. And 

 many others. 



var.— Blumei. 



Sepals and petals oblong, acute, broader than in the type, deep 



buff'-yellow faintly mottled with red.* 



P. gi-andifoliiis Blumei, supra. P. Blumei, Lindl. Gen.et Sp. Orch. p. 127. Blunie, 

 Orch. Ind. Archipel. t. 1. Kegel's Gartenfl.. 1865, t. 464. 



One of the earliest tropical orchids introduced into British gardens, 



it having been brought from China about the year 1778 by Dr. 



John Fothergill; it is also a native of the hot valleys of the 



lower Himalayan zone, Cochin China^ and various parts of eastern 



Australia, especially in the neighbourhood of More ton Bay, whence 



it was sent to the Royal Gardens at Kew, by Allan Cunningham, 



* The above is the only character we find in Phaius Blumei in cultivation, by which it 

 may be distinguished from P, grandifolms. JMoreover we have had forms in our houses so 

 nearly intermediate between these, that they might with equal j)roi)riety be referred to either. 

 An Australian representative of the variety, figured in the Botanical Magazine, t 6032, under 

 the name of P. Blumei Bernaysii, has i)rimrose-yello\v flowers, but it is of little value 

 as a horticultural pkint on account of the flowers being often self- fertilising before they 

 expand, and thence lasting but a short time in perfection. 



