3 ° (Naa ad ee ene Pe ee ee ee 
eo tink ; 
15 
rat 
20 
mm a8 
PL. COXCIV. 
DENDROBIUM SUPERBIENS rcup. F. 
THE SUPERB DENDROBIUM. 
DENDROBIUM. Vide Lindenia, Engl. ed., vol. I, p. 37. 
Dendrobium superbiens. Caule elato crasso; foliis latis lineari-oblongis acutis crassis, dimidiam longitudinem 
prope latis, vaginis purpureo-striatis; racemis elongatis multifloris; mento breviter extinctiformi antice medio obscure 
gibbo; sepalis ligulatis triangulis apiculatis, lateralibus subcurvis; petalis subspatulatis obtusis bene longioribus ; 
labello trilobo, lobis lateralibus extrorsis semiovatis, lobo medio oblongo obtuso lato, hinc retusiusculo, nervis principa- 
libus quinis, nervillis lateralibus pluribus conspicuis asperulis, carinis supra nervos principales a basi in basin laciniae 
mediae, ibi semi-oblongo lamellato-elevatis, dorso serrulatis, dentibus uniseriatis. 
Dendrobium superbiens RcHB. F. in Gard. Chron., 1876, pt. 2, p. 516. — Ip. 1878, pt. I, pp. 40, 49, fig. 9, 
et p. 652. — Fl. Mag., n. s. t., 294. — Reichenbachia, ser. 1, vol. I, p. 87, t. 39. — FITZGERALD Austral. Orch., 
pt. 1. — VeITCH Man. Orch. Pl., pt. 3, p. 76. — Warn. & WILL. Orchid Album, VII, t. 312. 
D. Goldiei Reus. F. in Gard. Chron., 1878, pt. 1, p. 652. — The Garden, XIV (1878), p. 244, t. 145. 
his beautiful Australian Dendrobium was originally introduced to Europe 
in 1876, when it was sent to Messrs JAmMEs VerircH & Sons, of Chelsea, 
ai by the late Sir Wittiam Macartuur, of Cambden Park, near Sydney, 
New South Wales, and was described by Prof. ReicHENBAcH in the autumn of 
that year. It is a native of the Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland, and 
some small adjacent islands in Torres Straits. 
It is an exceedingly handsome plant, for in a wild state the stems are said to 
reach a height of three to four feet, and as these have been seen with the scars 
of four inflorescences, and the racemes themselves with as many as twelve flowers, 
the effect of a fine clump in flower can well be imagined. Indeed, the plate in 
Fitzgerald’s Australian Orchids, which was “ taken from a plant grown in the 
greenhouse of the late Sir WiLt1aAm Macartuvr, ” who was the original introducer 
of the species, shows as many as fifteen flowers on a pendulous raceme over a 
foot and a half long, and we are told that “ a plant in the possession of Captain 
BLoomFIELD continued in flower for thirteen months continuously, producing at 
least twelve spikes at a time, the individual flowers lasting three months. ” 
It is allied to D. bigibbwm Linpt., on the one hand, and D. undulatum, 
R. Br., on the other, and indeed has been suggested to be a natural hybrid 
between them, though I see no ground for the latter supposition. From D. bigib- 
bum it is readily distinguished by its narrower and more undulate sepals and 
petals, as well as by the different details of the lip and spur, and by the different 
habit. 
D. Goldiei, described with evident reluctance by ReICHENBACH, does not 
appear to be more than a rather distinct local variety, though its differences are 
as 
