20 CYMBIDIUM. 



crest two-keeled, the keels convergent towards their apices. Column 



triquetral, arched, concave below the stigma, yellow spotted with red. 



Cymbidium Lowianum, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. XI. (1879), pp. 321 and 405, with 

 fig. Fl. Mag. N.s. t. 353. C. giganteum Lowianum, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. VII. 

 (1877), p 68.5. Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. VI. p. 13. 



Sub.-var.— (v/HcoZar (Gard. Chron. IX. s. 3 (1891), p. 107), the apical 

 area of the Hp bright buff-yellow, all traces of the red-crimson entirely 

 absent. 

 Cymhi'diuin Lowianum was sent to Messrs. Low^ from Burmah, in 

 1877, by Boxall ; it flowered for the first time in this country in 

 their Clapton nursery in the spring of 1879. It has since been 

 detected by our own collector on the hills around Bhamo in some 

 places associated with G. grand iflorum, growing under much the same 

 conditions as observed by Gibson on the Khasia Hills. As a horti- 

 cultural plant G. Lowianum is unquestionably superior to its near 

 ally G. giganteum ; its longer racemes of brighter coloured flowers, the 

 length of time they continue in perfection and the pleasing habit of 

 the plant all combine to render it when in flower one of the most 

 striking objects in the orchid house. 



Cymbidinm giganteum, 0. grandifiormn, C. Loioianum and C. longifolium, 

 the last named rare in cultivation, form a very natural group of Cymbids, 

 all inhabiting the tropical Himalaya from Nepal to north-east Burmah 

 under much the same conditions of climate and environment. It is 

 a question whether they should be regarded as specifically distinct or 

 only as varieties of one well-defined type ; we incline to the latter 

 ^'iow, a view strengthened by the recent appearance of an intermediate 

 form in G. Traceyanum. For horticultural convenience it is doubtless 

 liest to keep them distinct for the present. 



0. madidum. 



Stems pseudo-bulbous, sub-cylindric, 3 — 4 inches long Leaves ensiform, 

 sub-erect, 20 — 30 inches long, sheathing at the base. Racemes pen- 

 dulous, as long as the leaves, many - flowered. Flowers an inch in 

 diameter ; sepals and petals oval-oblong, obtuse, dull nankeen-yellow, the 

 sepals spreading, the petals smaller and erect ; lip obscurely three-lobed, 

 the side lobes rotiuid, erect, stained with vinous purple ; the intermediate 

 lobe roundish oblong, coloured like the sepals and jDetals ; lamellae 

 none, "in room of which is a shining exudation all along the axis." 



Cymbidium madidum. Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1840, misc. p. 9. Rchb. in Walp. 

 Ann. VI. p. 624. Rolfe in Gard. Lhron. VI. s. 3 (1889) ]). 406. C. albucteflorum, 

 F. Muell. Fragm. Phyt. Austral. 1. p. 188. Benth. Fl. Austral. VI. p. 303. 



This was first imported by Messrs. RoUisson in 1840, but seems 



to have been soon lost to cultivation. Its re-appearance in British 



