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DENDROBIUM DRACONIS. 



[Plate 103.] 



J\^ative of Moulmsin, Siam, and Cochin Cliina 



Epiphytal. Sterna robust, jointed, tlio intornodcs nonrly covorrd by .the 



sheathing baso, of the leaves, strintc, ni^j^ro-liirsuto, about a foot in licight. lA<'<'rs 

 leathery, dark green, oblong-lanceolate, about three inches long, obliquely notched nt 

 the apex. Flowers in short three to five-flowered rnfcnies, termiuMl or borne in 

 the axils of the upper leaves, cuns2>icuous fioni their fine Ivory-whiti' colour and 



distinct eye ; .sepals lanceolate, acute, entire, spreading, the dorsal one emct ; prfnJs 



also pure white, broadiT, ovate -lanceolate, spreading, the tips offcn recurved ; lip 

 three-lobed, the lateral lobes short, roundish-ovate, white, pencilled with cinnnbnr-rod, 

 the iniddl(3 lobe three times longer, elongate-oblong, apieulate, the veins thickened, 

 the margins crenulate and undulated, the disk minutely downy, and like the latornl 



lobes marked with a tuft of longitudinal cinnabar-red lines ; spur funnel-shnped. 



horizontal, about equalling the 8e]>als. Cohtmn short, greenish. 



Dendkobium Draconis, Reichenhach Jil., Botaiiische Zeitiing, 1862, 214; Id., 

 Gardeiwrs' Chronicle, n.s., xix., 598. 



Dendeobium eburxeum. Parish MS.; Batcman, in Botanical Magazine, t. 5459; 



Id., Second Century of Orchidaceovf Plants, t. 4C6; Andre, Revue llorticole. 



1883, 132, with coloured plate. 



Some confusion in reference to the name of this handsome Dendrobe hns ariff^n 

 in gardens where it has for aljout twenty years Txicn known as Dendrohium 

 ehurneum. This name, a MS. one of the Eev. C. P. S. Parish, was attached to 

 it in the Botanical Magazine for 18G4, and by mistake attributed to Professor 

 Reichenbach, who had published the name D. Draconis for the same plant in the 

 Botaniaclw Zeitung for 1862. The name Draconis, of course, takes precedence. 



The plant which we now introduce to our readers under its correct name, is a 

 most beautiful Indian Dendrobe, one which is quite distinct in growth, belonging 

 to the nigro-hirsute group of which Dendrohium fornfiosnm is an example ; it is, 

 however, smaller, and a much better grower, and, in fact, more closely resembles 

 D. infundihulum and D. Jamesianum, both in its habit and its fl<jwers, whi<;h aie 

 produced very freely, as may be seen from the fiEuthful representation of the plant 

 and flowers which our artist has made. The drawing was taken from a specimen 

 which bloomed in the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, one of a larfje importation 

 we received last year as D. ehurneum, the true name of which, on submitting 

 flowers to Professor Eeichcnbach, we learned to be D. Draconis. We "have 

 subsequently bloomed others with much larger flowers. It will b-eorae a most 



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