THUNIA. 1 9 



sometimes citron-yellow and Avitli some purple streaks on each side of 



them. Column short, slender, semi-terete, winged at the apex, 



Thunia alba, Rclib. in Bot. Zeit. 1852, p. 764. Phaius albus, Lindl. Gen. et Sp. 

 Orch. p. 128 (1831). Bot. Reg. 1838, t. 33. Bot. Mag. t. 3991. Paxt. Mag. Bot. V. 

 t. 125. Hook. Cent. Orch. t. 39. 



SUb-vars. — Dodgsonii {FI. Mag. u, s. 1878, t. 329), syn. flavotincia (Gard. 

 Chron. XX. 1883, p. 334), front part of the lip citron-yellow, streaked 

 with purple ; nivalis, lip pure white like the other segments. 



Originally discovered by Dr. WalHch, growing on trees on one 

 of the lower spurs of the Nepalese Himalayas, and subsequently 

 gathered by one of the collectors for the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, 

 in Sylhet, from which locality it was introduced by Messrs, Loddiges, 

 about the year 1836. It was collected in the same locality in the 

 following year for the Duke of Devonshire by Gibson, who found 

 it growing upon trees in the shady damp forest at 2,000 — 3,000 feet 

 elevation.* It is widely distributed through the lower Himalayan 

 zone, and thence southwards over the eastern peninsula to the plains 

 of Lower Burmah, Moulmein, etc, where it is quite common, j 



T. BensonisB. 



Stems, leaves, and inflorescence as in Tlmnia alba. Flowers 3 — 4 



inches across ; sepals and petals amethyst-purple, paler, almost white at 



the base ; the basal part of the lip whitish with entire edge, the distal 



part amethyst-purple with denticulate edge, and traversed longitudinally 



by numerous yellow fringed lines, five of which are prolonged to the 



base of the lip; spur notched. Column white, stained with purple. 



Thunia Bensonise, Hook. f. Bot. Mag. t. 5694 (1868). Williams' Orch. Alb. II. 

 t. 67. Phaius Bensonise, Hemsley, in Gard. Chron. XVIII, (1882), p. 565. 



Discovered by Colonel Benson in the neighbourhood of Rangoon, 

 in 1866, and also on the mountains of Moulmein and Arracan, at 

 1,600 — 2,500 feet elevation, where the average yearly temperature is 

 about 27° C. (80° F.), and the annual rainfall often reaches 200 

 inches, but where fi'om December to February the country around is 

 charred and scorched by the intense heat that prevails at that season. ;{: 

 It flowered for the first time in this country in the Royal Gardens 

 at Kew, and in our Chelsea nursery in July, 1867. 



Thunia Bensonicp differs from T. alha in having larger flowers of 



* For the temperature and other climatic phenomena of the lower Himalayan zone, see 

 introductory notes to Dcndrobium. 



t Col. Benson in Gard. Chron, 1870, p. 796, 



X Colonel Benson in Gard. Chron. 1870, p. 796, who also states that there is a yellow 

 variety, probably Thunia Marshalliana, 



