282 THE ORCHID REVIEW. (SEPTEMBER, 1914 
reproduce a figure of a fine specimen which flowered some years ago in the 
collection of Dr. R. T. Jessop, Roundway Mount, Leeds, and gained the 
First prize for a specimen Orchid at the Leeds Show in 1897. When thus 
grown the species is very handsome. 
RHYNCHOSTYLIS RETUSA.—The mention of Rhynchostylis retusa would 
naturally recall a Javan plant, but on referring to the original description 
(Blume, Bydr., p. 286) we find it was based on Aérides retusum, Swartz, 
and this on the original Epidendrum retusum of Linnzeus (Sp. Plant., ed. 1. 
P- 953). Linnzus himself based the species on an old figure in Rheede’s 
Hortus Malabaricus (xii. p. 1. t. 1), bearing the name “ Angeli maravara,” 
this being a large drawing of a plant bearing two spikes of fruit, and two of 
flowers with the unmistakable Rhynchostylis structure, and thus we are 
able to fix Rhynchostylis retusa down to the South Indian plant, of which 
good dried specimens are known. A graphic account of this Malabar plant 
was given in an article by “ J.L.,” which appeared in The Garden in 1890 
(xxxvili. p. 607), from which the following is condensed :— 
In its original habitat of Malabar the species mostly affects the jungle 
and marshy banks of sluggishly-flowing rivers, thick with trees of low 
stature and thorny undergrowth, composed of Solanum ferox, spify 
Acacias, and other wait-a-bit Thorns, where croak innumerable frogs, 
speaking eloquently of malaria, ague, and fever, and where crawls the 
deadly cobra, and where other reptiles and insects of strange appearance 
are abundant. In the midst of such surroundings, pendant from the 
branches of trees, may be seen the charming blooms of the Saccolabium, 
spreading a fragrance around which compels the explorer to linger in the 
locality, even at the risk of subsequent attacks of jungle fever. Curiously 
enough, the plants are never found in groups, but singly, with 
long distances between the individual plants. The altitude is about 25°? 
to 3000 feet. The plants come into flower during September and October, 
or immediately after the south-west monsoon rains cease, and from that 
date till the first spring showers fall, in March or April, these epiphytes 
enjoy a complete rest. They are throughout nearly the whole of this period 
of rest protected from the east. winds which prevail for so many mop ths, 
and they are under the influence of dense fogs during the night and early 
morning. During the prevalence of the south-west monsoon, which 1 
their growing season, the temperature rarely falls below 70° Fahr-, thst 
is when the sky is cloudy and the rain is pouring in torrents, perhaps . 
three or four weeks at a time. From the end of October till the end 0 
April, the season of rest, the thermometer frequently falls in the night 4 
early morning to 48° Fahr., so that the range of temperature under whi 
they live in Southern India is considerable. 
