s 4 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [September, 1921. 
freely, and the plant seems to have become so accustomed to the terrestrial 
mcde of life that it has gradually lost the habit of producing the aerial roots 
which are invariably present when the plant is growing under the conditions 
of an epiphyte. This leads one to the conclusion that the conditions which 
are necessary to cause this plant to form these peculiar roots are directly 
opposed to those which are necessary to cause the plant to flower.” 
In 1907, Grammatophyllum speciosum flowered in the collection of Sir 
Trevor Lawrence, and the spike weighed, after it had been cut for more 
than two days, iflbs, and then forty out of an aggregate of seventy flowers 
had been removed. One flower with its pedicel weighed exactly a quarter 
■ of an ounce, so that the total weight of the fully developed inflorescence 
-would have been over two pounds. Near the base of the spike were two 
abnormal flowers, having only two sepals and two petals, an abnormality 
that occurs in several other species. In the above example there was an 
interval of 3 feet 2 inches between the last imperfect flower and the first 
perfect one. The inflorescence developed rapidly, and was observed to 
elongate as much as 6 inches in 24 hours. 
The individual flowers measure from five to six inches across, and are 
yellow, spotted with purple or chocolate. They have been closely studied 
by Mr. H. N. Ridley, when director of the Gardens and Forest Department, 
Singapore, who in a paper on the Orchideae of the Malay Peninsula ( Jnr . 
JAnn. Soc., vol. xxxii.), remarks : “ Each flower remains open for a few days 
without any alteration unless fertilised, when, although it is still unwithered, 
a change takes place which prevents its ever being fertilised. The apex of 
the column begins to turn over towards the stigma, pressing down the 
rostellum and pushing aside the side lobes. The disc of the pollen and the 
anther become black and show signs of decay. The red spots on the upper 
part of the column become paler, and the whole column more greenish 
coloured. The lip becomes duller and withers. In a few days the apex of 
the column is coiled up almost into the stigma, pressing the pollinia into 
the stigmatic mouth. Then the whole flower commences to droop and 
^wither. I believe that there is actual growth of the column apex, and this 
is borne out by the alteration in form of the spots on the upper part of the 
column, which appear to lengthen as the column curves over. Removal of 
the pollinia does not arrest this growth. The same growth takes place after 
fertilisation, but much more rapidly. On November 27th, at 11 a.m., I 
fertilised two flowers with the pollen of each other. Next day, at 8.30 a.m., 
the column was distinctly curved over and nearly concealed the stigma, and 
by noon the curving into the stigma was complete. All the flowers I 
fertilised set fruit, but those which were not so treated never did so, 
.although their own pollen was pushed into the stigma by the incurving of 
4 he column. Cross-fertilisation is absolutely necessary, and that within a 
