APPENDIX 



indeed be surprisingly beautiful, but beautiful flowers in Borneo are 

 for the most part hidden from view to the wanderer in the forest. The 

 spectacle of meadows spangled with flowers on our hills, or of rock-plants 

 and bushes resplendent with brilliant colours on some alpine height, 

 are sights unknown in Borneo ; mainly because there no single species 

 of plant occupies entirely any extensive area. At times, however, it 

 is true, the crown of a tree may be seen entirely covered by its own 

 flowers or those of an enveloping liana, forming when viewed from an 

 elevation, great masses of colour in a sea of verdure. 



Although, as I have said, Borneo produces some of the finest orchids 

 now cultivated in European hothouses, the island does not possess the 

 number of species with large and brilliantly-tinted flowers which grow 

 in Upper Burma, in some parts of the Himalayan region and in the 

 forests of the tropical New World. Nor has Borneo any peculiar generic 

 type belonging to this family. Perhaps the most remarkable Bornean 

 orchid is Arachnanthe Lowii, which I have already mentioned ; a special 

 type in its own group -on account of the two kinds'! of flowers which it 

 produces on the same spike, the proximal flowers nearest the leaves 

 being quite different from those which grow above. This very excep- 

 tional case among orchids justifies in my opinion the formation of a 

 new and special genus for this remarkable and beautiful plant, for 

 which I would suggest the name ,of Lowianthns Borneensis, retaining 

 thus the dedication to its discoverer. 



I collected in Borneo over 200 species of orchids, which number 

 perhaps does not represent even half of the species existent on this 

 great island ; but amongst them few indeed would from an ornamental 

 point of view deserve to be cultivated. 1 Amongst the more handsome 

 and commercial forms about thirty are now cultivated in European 

 hothouses. I may mention some fine Dendrobiums, three species of 

 Phalcenopsis, five or six Cypripediums, the above mentioned Arachnanthe 

 Lowii, Grammatophyllum speciosum, two or three splendid Vandas, and 

 several kinds of Bulbophyllum and Ccelogyne. The latter genus is repre- 

 sented in the Bornean forests by many species, some of which are often 

 to be met flowering within hand-reach on the lower parts of trees, on 

 bushes or on decaying prostrate trunks, together with ferns, mosses 

 and other plants. The Coelogynes with remarkable flowers in Sarawak, 

 are, however, only four or five, and amongst them C. pandurata is the 

 most noteworthy, having green flowers largely blotched with a deep 

 black (Vide, p. 320.) I need not mention again here the small ground 

 orchids with variegated or metallic-looking leaves (Ancectochylus, Goody era, 

 etc.) which are the gems of amateurs' collections. 



Amongst the notable orchids of Sarawak Bulbophyllum Beccarii, 

 Reich, deserves a special mention. It is a gigantic orchid which pro- 

 duces a conspicuous bunch of flowers, but the odour they give off is so 

 strongly foetid that when the hothouse at Kew where the plant was 



1 My Bornean orchids, after having remained for over ten years in the hands 

 of Prof. Reichenbach, were returned to me without a single name affixed, Yet 

 they had been worked, and the results will no doubt be found amongst the papers 

 rendered useless to science by the singular testamentary dispositions of that learned 

 but most eccentric botanist and lamented friend of mine. 



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