338 THE ORCHID REVIEW. ([NovEMBER, 1922. 
GRAMMATOPHYLLUM PAPUANUM. 
ae illustration represents a fine specimen of Grammatophyllum 
papuanum flowering in the collection of Wm. Schmidt, Esq., who 
kindly sends the following interesting information concerning its history + 
I found this plant in rg10 near the border of the former German New 
Guinea and British New Guinea, in the south-east part of that island. I 
only saw one plant—a huge mass—-on a dead giant of the forest near the 
river a few miles up from the coast, and it was no easy work to get part of 
that plant down from its lofty position. The plant travelled in a large box 
on the deck of a small steamer in company with the potatoes of the ship. 
After a week’s journey, I was very much surprised to find that rats had 
eaten a good part of the plant, preferring it to the potatoes. Nevertheless, 
I succeeded in bringing the rest home safely and in growing iton. It took 
seven years before I could enjoy seeing the flowers, and this first spike is to 
be seen in the photograph. The following year the plant had three fine 
spikes and developed very much quicker, so that I was able to make three 
good plants when repotting. This species has the same peculiarity as 
Renanthera Lowii, developing two kinds of flowers; the first spike had 
about fifty flowers, including four abnormal ones at the lower end. 
Mr. Schmidt concludes by saying that he has crossed this remarkable 
species with the pollen of Cymbidium insigne Sanderi, and has been 
successful in obtaining some seedlings. These he calls Grammatocymbt- 
diums, and hopes to be able to send us flowers at.a later date. 
The genus Grammatophyllum was founded by Blume, in 1825, on G. 
speciosum, commonly known as the Giant Orchid. G. papuanum, J. J-5m+ 
was described in 1911 (Bull. Dep. Agric. Ind. Neerl.), from materials. 
collected at the River Beguwri, in Dutch New Guinea. It was afterwards 
figured (Lorentz, N. Guin., viii. p. 596, t. 107) from flowers preserved in 
alcohol, hence the colour markings are not represented. Some idea of the 
immense size of this plant may be obtained by comparing it with the other 
plants seen in our reproduced photograph. The flowers are somewhat 
smaller than those of G. speciosum, but the segments are considerably 
broader. At the base of the inflorescence are four abnormal flowers, each 
consisting of two sepals and two petals, the lip being entirely absent. 
The Grammatocymbidium seedlings are of considerable horticultural 
interest, for they may lead to the production of immense Cymbidium-like 
spikes and still further extend this popular genus. From a botanical point 
of view the crossing of Grammatophyllum and Cymbidium does not come 
so much as a surprise, for both genera were classified by Bentham in the 
subtribe Cymbidiee. The flowering of these seedlings is being looked 
forward to with much interest. 
