AB.ACHNANTHE. ' 



spotted with red. Column very thick, buff-yellow passing into red-brown 



around the stigma and anther. 



Arachnanthe Cathcartii, Benth. in Journ. Linn. Soc. XVIII. p, 332 (1881). Gen. 

 Plant. III. p. 573. Hook. f. Fl. Br. Ind. VI. p. 27. Pfitzer, Grundziige, 

 p. 11, with fig. (18S2). Vanda Cathcartii, Lindl. Fol. Orch. Vanda, No, 17 

 (1853). Hook. f. nius. Himal. PI. t. 23. Bot. Mag. t, 5845. Ulus. hort. V. 

 t. 187 (copied from Illus. Himal. PI ). Van Houtte's Fl. des Serves. XII. 

 t. 1251 (also copied from Illus. Himal. PI.). Gard. Chron. 1870, p. 1409, icon, 

 xyl. Fl. Mag. n.s. t. 66. Jennings' Orch. t. 10. Williams' Orch. Alb. IV. 

 t. 168. Esmeralda Cathcartii, Rchb. Xen. Orch. II. p. 39 (1862). Id. Walper's 

 Ann. VI. p. 871 (1864). 



To meet the exigencies of a progressive science like Botany, a change 

 in the nomenclature of certain plants is often unavoidable. Several 

 causes may arise to necessitate such a change, for example — the genus 

 to which a species is first referred may not have been clearly circum- 

 scribed, or it may have been thrown into confusion by the addition 

 of species that do not conform to its essential characters. Vanda 

 Gathcartii is an instance of this; so long ago as 1862 the late 

 Professor Reichenbach challenged the propriety of referring this 

 plant to Vanda, and created for its reception a new genus which 

 he called Esmeralda ; * but the change seems to have attracted but 

 little notice till the revision of the Orchide^ svas undertaken by 

 Mr. Bentham for the Genera Plantarum. That eminent systeraatist, 

 although agreeing with Reichenbach as to the propriety of removing 

 it from Vanda, found it unnecessary to adopt his Esmeralda, as 

 the flowers conform sufficiently to Blume's much older genus, 

 Arachnanthe ; and he accordingly brought it under that genus. 



The following particulars of its origin are given by Sir J. D. 

 Hooker in the Botanical Magazine, sub. t. 5845 : — ^^ It is a native of 

 hot, damp, shady valleys in the eastern Himalaya, delighting in 

 the neighbourhood of waterfalls where it is exposed to constant 

 humidity; it was discovered by myself in 1848, and transmitted to 

 the Calcutta Botanic Garden, where, after flowering, it was sent off 

 to England, but did not survive the voyage. f Repeated attempts 

 were subsequently made to introduce it with more or less success, 

 and the honour of first flowering it in this country is, I believe, 

 due to Messrs. Veitch, whose plant produced one flower in March 

 of the present year (1870)." From that time forward Arachnanthe 



* Xen. Orch. 11. loc. cit. supra. 



t Keichcnliach affirms that it had been previously discovered hy Griffith. " Lange vor 

 der Heise von J. D. Hooker und Thomson hatte sic Herr Lindley von Griflitli mit 

 zahlreichen Bliithen anderer Seltenheiten in ^rossen Alkoholgiasern.'" Xen. Orch. II. t. 39. 



