November 4, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



521 



nopsis. The plant in Captain Broomfield's collection flow- 

 ered the following April, and produced 300 blooms. 



In 1882 Mr. Forbes visited some of the islands north of 

 Queensland on behalf of the Geographical Society of Lon- 



Fig. 80. — Nothochtaena rigida, n. sp. — See page 519. 



don. He brought back with him several living plants, and 

 among them was a plant of this Dendrobium which he ob- 

 tained in Timorlant. This plant came to Kew, where it 

 flowered in September, 1884, and a figure of it was pub- 



lished in the Botanical Magazine, t. 6817. There is a de- 

 cided difference between the plant flowered at Kew and 

 that figured and described by Fitzgerald, the scape of the 

 latter being erect, while that borne by the Kew plant was 

 pendent : the lip of the latter was maroon-crim- 

 son, whereas Fitzgerald figures and describes 

 his plant with uniformly lilac-purple flowers. 

 However, Sir Joseph Hooker considered and 

 described them as identical. Several plants of 

 D. Phalcenopsis had been distributed from Kew, 

 and these are now known as the Kew variety 

 to distinguish them from an exceedingly beau- 

 tiful form of the same species. This was named 

 D. Phalcenopsis, var. Schrcederianum, by Reich- 

 enbach in compliment to Baron Schrceder, in 

 whose collection it first flowered at Egham, 

 near Windsor. 



He procured it from Messrs. Veitch & Sons, 

 who had imported several plants of it through 

 the Rev. Mr. Macfarlane, a missionary in north 

 Australia. Mr. Lee, of Leatherhead, also ob- 

 tained a plant from Veitch, who bought it back 

 again for fifty guineas when Mr. Lee's plants 

 were disposed of by auction. This plant also 

 went into the collection of Baron Schrceder, 

 who is now the sole possessor of the variety. 

 This is certainly a very beautiful Dendrobe. 

 There is a figure of it in Williams' Orchid 

 Album, iv., t. 187. It has flowers half as large 

 again as the Kew variety, and the color is much 

 deeper and richer. 



Until this week D. Phalcenopsis was coveted 

 by all who had seen it as exhibited in flower 

 last spring, but. Mr. Sander has lately imported 

 a large quantity of what he declares to be the 

 same as Baron Schrceder's variety, and has dis- 

 posed of nearly a thousand plants by auction 

 sale to-day. 



The plants were in very good condition, 

 many of them having young growing shoots. 

 Some of them had pseudo-bulbs over three feet 

 long, one I measured being forty-three inches, 

 and as thick as a man's thumb. Others had 

 . thinner and shorter pseudo-bulbs, and were 

 more like what we had hitherto known as D. 

 Phalcenopsis. Altogether, there was very con- 

 siderable variation in the length, thickness, 

 shape and color of the pseudo-bulbs on the 

 plants sold to-day. I noticed, too, that the 

 old flower-scapes were nearly all erect; cer- 

 tainly not one was what might be called pen- 

 dent. If these plants are really D. Phalcenopsis, 

 then it is a very variable species. Some of the 

 dried scapes exhibited were -nearly three feet 

 long, and bore scars of twenty flowers. Dried 

 flowers were also on view, and they were 

 nearly four inches across. Mr. Sander says 

 that there are varieties with white, rose and 

 crimson, as well as purple flowers, among those 

 sold to-day. 



Where these plants were collected has not 

 been divulged, but it is probable that their 

 home is not far from New Guinea. Mr. San- 

 der publishes in his sale-catalogue a letter 

 from the collector who sent home the Den- 

 drobiums, which is interesting enough to quote 

 in full. It is headed "The King of Dendrobes." 

 The collector writes : 



" With great pleasure I announce to you the 

 fact that I arrived here yesterday with my 

 plants in the finest order, and you will at 

 last get striking novelties from this terrible country. It 

 was the best time to collect the Dendrobe ; they had just 

 finished growing, and some were in full bloom. I forgot 

 all my troubles when I saw the first on some roeks, on the 



