be more splendid than the display of D. grandiflora, with its large and _ brilliant 
scarlet flowers, as grown in the gardens of M. le Comte Adrien de Germiny, at 
Gouville, in Normandy, and described by us in the seventh volume of the Orchid 
Album, under plate 294. At that time we saw two hundred spikes bearing four 
hundred expanded flowers beside a quantity of buds unexpanded. ‘That was a 
sight long to be remembered, but we have heard from the same gardens that this 
number of blooms has since been largely exceeded. 
Disa racemosa is a fine and distinct species somewhat resembling D. grandiflora 
in general aspect, but of smaller habit; the leaves are light green, and its elegant 
blossoms are of a rosy purple hue, produced in the month of July, and measure 
three inches in diameter. The accompanying plate was taken from a plant in the 
Royal Botanic Gardens, at Kew, by the ‘kind permission of Professor Dyer, the 
Director. The plant was growing freely under the care of Mr. W. Watson, who 
collected the plant in its native country, and from whom we have received the 
following interesting account of his discovery. “Disa racemosa is abundant in the 
neighbourhood of Grahamstown. I collected our plants in a deep ravine, at the 
bottom of which a narrow stream ran trickling over huge boulders or jutting pieces 
of flinty rock. The Disa grew on the moist surfaces of this rock, as well as in 
the soil, at the margin of the stream, and even in the driest weather this plant 
would be kept moist by the stream, whilst in the rainy season it would, doubtless, be 
often partially or entirely submerged for a time. The ravine was well wooded, so 
that the Disa is always shaded. In this place I found many yards of plants, 
growing in dense patches, and often forming a kind of turf on the surface of the 
stone, so that to gather it I had only to insert my fingers under the edge of the 
turf and tear the mass up.” He says, respecting its cultivation, “We find this 
species easier to manage than D. grandiflora; it grows quickly, and sends out 
runners freely if treated exactly as usually answers for D. grandiflora. Last 
February we divided a clump into single pieces as an experiment simply, and every 
one of these grew and flowered in the following May.” 
