510 FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 
pendulous. Flowers 34 inches across, thirty or forty in a raceme; sepals 
and petals broad, thick, lower part white, upper part magenta ; lip large, 
upper part white, lower rich orange with two magenta spots; May. 
Stove plant. Introduced from Assam, 1863. Must be grown in basket 
or on block. 
There are numerous beautiful neha Dendrobiums of garden origin ; 
the best are: Ainsworthii (aureum x nobile), 1874; leechianum (nobile 
x aureum), 1882; splendidissimum (aureum X stile), 1879; Venus 
(Faleoneri x nobile), 1890. 
Dendrobiums as a genus are among the most beautiful 
of Orchids, and therefore well worthy the attention of the 
amateur. The erect-growing species may be potted in a mixture of 
equal parts fibrous peat and sphagnum-moss, with the addition of 
charcoal, but the pot should be first filled to two-thirds of its height with 
drainage material, upon which the compost should be raised in a cone 
above the rim and pressed firmly around the base of the plant. During 
the period of growth they require a very hot house and plenty of 
sunshine; water must be given abundantly, but it is advisable not to 
syringe the plants, as mischief sometimes results from water remaining 
stagnant in the axils and leaf-sheaths. Species of pendulous habit should 
be grown in baskets or on blocks. If planted in the ordinary Orchid- 
basket the latter should be lined with sphagnum-moss and roughly 
broken peat, and the plants fixed firmly by some more of the same 
-material. Blocks must be covered with the sphagnum, secured in 
position by fine copper wire, a few turns of which should be so made 
around the plant as to fix it firmly. This is a point of considerable 
importance, as any looseness will result in injury to the plant. The 
syringe must be used two or three times a day to Dendrobes in baskets 
or on blocks. In the former case the spray should be confined to the 
roots and the sphagnum; in the case of blocks it is not of such great 
importance, as the blocks are hung nearer the glass, where drying is more 
rapid. Two or three times a week these must be dipped into a pail of 
water. Care must be taken to use only clean water that is also as warm 
as the temperature of the house; it should, in fact, have stood in the 
house for a few hours before using it. Fresh growth usually commences 
with or after development of flowers; the plants must be re-potted at 
this time. 
When growth has almost ceased, the water-supply must be cut off, and 
a lower temperature and drier atmosphere obtained for the plants, where 
they can receive all the available sunshine, and so ripen their stems or 
pseudo-bulbs. If they now show any tendency towards withering, give 
Cultivation. 
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