90 VANDA. 



twisted aii_L;ulate pedicels ; sepals and jjetals similar and sub-equal, 



shortly clawed with a broadly ovate obtuse blade, yellow or yellowish 



green veined and reticulated with cliestnut-brown, pale rose or whitish 



behind ; lip broadly clawed, the claw yellowish above and with a 



triangular white auricle on each side ; the blade fleshy, convex with 



three raised median lines, cordate-oblong, expanding at the apex into 



two oblong-falcate lobes, light rose-purple ; spur short, funnel - shaped, 



compressed. Column light rose-purple. 



Vanda Bensonii, Batem. in Bot. Mag. t. 5611 (1866). Rchb. in Gard. Ghron. 

 1867, p. 180, icon. xyl. Id. Xen. Orch. II. p. 138. Van Houtte's Fl. des Serres, 

 XXII. t. 2329. Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. VI. p. 51. 



Introduced by us in 1866 through General Benson, who had 

 discovered it in Lower Burmah, between Prome and Tongu, associated 

 with Saccolabium giganteum and Ehynchostylis retusa. It occurs on 

 trees in a deciduous jungle fully exposed to the sun in the dry- 

 season, Avheu the temperature frequently rises to 45° C. (112° F.) 

 in the shade and when its leaves are often scorched.* 



V. cserulea. 



Leaves leathery, 5 — 8 inches long, | — 1 inch broad. Racemes erect 



or sub-erect, longer than the leaves, 8 — 15 or more flowered. Flowers 



3 — 4 inches in diameter, on light blue pedicels 2 inches long, ribbed 



and twisted ; sepals and petals clawed, the claw of the petals slightly 



twisted, broadly obovate, the two lateral sepals longer and broader than 



the upper three segments, all of a soft light blue faintly tesselated 



with azure-blue; lip much shorter than the petals, linear-oblong, three- 



lobed, the side lobes with a short, incurved cusp at the apex ; the front 



lobe nearly parallel with the column, deep blue, obtuse at the apex, 



where there are two small tubercles each with 2 — 3 thickened ridges 



above ; spur short, conical, with a bipartite callus at its mouth. Column 



white above Avith a violet stain below the stigma. 



Vanda cserulea, Griffith MS. ex. Lindl. in Bot. Eeg. 1847, sub. t, 30. Lindl. in 

 Paxt. FL Gard. I. t. 36. Id. Fol. Orch. Vanda No. 18. Id. in Journ. Hort. Soc. 

 Lond. vol. VI. p. 8 (1851), icon. xyl. {lai^sus calami cserulescens). Rchb. Xen. Orch. I. 

 p. 8, t. 5 (1854). Van Houtte's Fl. des Serres Fl. t. 609 (copied from Paxt. Fl. Gard.) 

 Linden's Pesc. t. 29. Illus. hort. 1860, t. 246. Warner's Sel. Orch. I. t. 18. 

 Jennings' Orch. t. 34. De Puydt, Les Orch. t. 45. Williams' Orch. Alb. VI. t. 282. 

 Sander's Reichenhachia II. t. 57. Godefroy's Orchidophile, 1890, p. 369. Hook. f. 

 Fl. Brit. Ind. VI. p. 51. 



This lovely Vanda was first discovered by the excellent Indian 



botanist and explorer, William GriflSth, in November, 1837, on the 



Khasia Hills, growing on large Gordonia trees amidst oaks and pines, 



in a locality which he describes as '' really dehghtful, reminding one 



much of England.'^t The first published notice of it appeared in 



* Gard. Chron. 1870, p. 311. t Private Journals and Itinerary Notes, p. 181, 



