CALANTHii. 5d 



ID 1837, It was found by Sir J. D. Hooker in great abundance 

 during his exploration of the Sikkim Himalayas in 1849 — 50, on 

 the ascent to Darjeeling, and on the Tonglo at 9,000 feet elevation, 

 growing " on the trunks of all tlie gieat trees, attaining a higher 

 elevation than most other epiphytal species," * and again sub- 

 sequently on the Kollong Rock, " a steep dome of red granite that 

 rises 400 feet above the level of the surrounding ridges of the 

 Khasia Hills,t and also on the rocks about Nonkreem.;{; Twenty years 

 later the variety was detected by Colonel Benson on the Arracan 

 Mountains at 2,500 — 3,000 feet elevation. The range of the species 

 is therefore very considerable ; its flowering season in the glass houses 

 of Europe is November and December. 



O. (Pleione) Reichenbachiana. 



Pseudo-bulbs 2 — 2| inches, cylindric, lobed, and with a conical pro- 

 tuberance at the apex, green spotted and mottled with blackish brown. 

 Peduncles one- rarely two-flowered. Flowers 2 inches across vertically ; 

 sepals ligulate, light rosy lilac striated and stained with amethyst-purple 

 in the middle and towards the apex ; petals narrower and paler in colour; 

 lip oblong, emarginate, the basal half rolled over the column, white, the 

 distal half open with ciliate margin, white spotted with purple ; disk 

 with three fringed lamellse. Column slender with three notched wings 

 at the apex. 



Coelogyne (Pleione) Reichenbachiana, T. Moore in Gard. Chron. 1868, p. 1210, 

 £ot. Mag. t. 5753. 



Discovered by Colonel Benson on the mountains near Moulmein, 



at 6,000 — 7,000 feet elevation, and communicated by him to the 



Royal Gardens at Kew and to us in 1868. It flowers in February 



and March, but it is still very i-aro in European collections. It was 



dedicated at our request to the late Professor Heichenbach of Hamburgh. 



CALANTHE. 



R. Brown in Bot. Reg. 1821, sub. t. 573. Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 249 (1833). Benth. 

 et Hook. Gen. Plant. III. p. 520 (1883). 



Limited as is the number of species of Calanthe suitable for horti- 

 culture, the genus has, nevertheless, an especial interest for horticulturists 

 on account of some beautiful forms included in it, that supply an 

 uninterrupted succession of flowers during the winter months, and 



* Himalayan Journals, I. p. 166. 

 t Id. II. IK 2y t Id. II. p. 311. 



