

DENDROBIUM POLYPHLEBIUM 



[Plate 299.] 



Kaiive of Burmah. 



Epiphytal Stems tufted, from twelve to eigliteeii inclies long, nearly 

 uniforjn in size throughout their entire length, but tapering slightly towards the 

 apex, bent downwards, furnished when young with numerous thin, membraneous 

 sheaths, which fall off .with a^e. Leaves deciduous, some three inches lonof, oblonsr 

 acuminate, notched at the apex, somewhat leathery in texture, and deep green. 

 Flowers produced singly, but more often in twos and threes, on a short raceme, 

 and yielding a slight odour, resembling the drug popularly known as Turkey 

 Ehubarb ; sepals spreading, oblong-lanceolate and acute, soft rosy-mauve ; petals 

 somewhat ovate, with a broad claw very much wider than the sepals, rosy-purple ; 

 Up rounded, entire, shorter than the sepals, rolled over the column, where the 

 colour is rosy-mauve, streaked with fine lines of crimson, the front portion 

 ornamented with a profusion of short, stiff hairs^ which give it a downy appearance, 

 fringed round the edge, purplish-crimson, l^ordered with white, and bearing over 

 its surface numerous radiating lines of purple. Column w^hite, toothed at the apex. 



Dendeobium POLYPHLEBIUM, Reicheuhach fih, in Gardeners^ Chronicle, N. hyb. 

 (Nat. ?) Third Series, i., 1887, p, 702. 



The subj ect before us appears to be a mule, and Professor Reichenbach is of 

 opinion that the various examples hitherto found of this plant are natural hybrids ; 

 this is likely to be the case, as General Berkeley — the gentleman w^ho first discovered 

 this plant — informs us that he found it growing singly, and at long intervals. He 



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first obtained a solitary plant in 1876, of which he sent flowers to Professor 

 Eeichenbach. Another plant was found by him in 1884, and again the following 

 year, 1885. In 1886, a plant of the same kind appeared amongst some Dendrobiums 

 imported by the Liverpool Horticultural Company. It has also recently flowered 

 in the collection of E. G. Wrigley, Esq., at Howick House, Preston. This supposed 



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mule is believed to be a cross between Z>. Pieixirdii and D. rhodopterygimn. The 

 plants first found in 1876, and again in 1884', above referred to, are darker in 

 colour than other plants which were found in a difi'erent district ; but this gentleman, 

 who has the whole series which were found by him " in his collection, and has 

 flowered them all, considers- their origin to be the same. 



Dendrohium polypUebium resembles in its habit of growth D. Pierardii latifoUum, 

 and produces pseudo-bulbs twelve to eighteen inches long. The flowers are 

 produced very freely and last a long time in perfection ; the sepals and petals 

 are broader than those of D. Pierardii, and bright rosy purple in colour; lip much 



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deeper in colour than the sepals . and petals, fringed at the border and veined with 



