THE ORGHID: REVIEW. [MARCH-APRIL 1919, 
46 
THE CULTIVATED ARUNDINAS. 3) 
. BY H. N. RIDLEY. FA 
HE genus Arundina is a troublesome one as regards species. Although 
C easy to distinguish in the wild state, herbarium specimens, on which 
much has been based, are as a rule unsatisfactory. 
ARUNDINA BAMBUSZ#FOLIA, Lindl., based on Cymbidium bambuszfolium, 
Roxb., is the common Indian species. It isa tall and stout plant, some 5-7 feet 
high, with large pink flowers, 2-3 inches across, and rather narrow sepals and 
petals. It is well figured in Orchid Album, t. 139, and Bot. Mag., t. 7284. 
Sir Joseph Hooker remarked of it: “I know no more attractive picture of 
its kind than a patch of grass land in the Khasia hills adorned with clumps 
of it in full flower.” 
A. DENSA, Lindl. (Bot. Reg., xxviii. t. 38), was based on a plant sent to 
Loddiges by Cuming, and has been accredited to Singapore and to the 
Philippines. It exactly matches a plant from Mt. Ophir, where Cuming 
also collected. This plant also grows on Gunong Kerban and other Perak 
hills, and is remarkable for the large size of the flowers, the broad, ovate 
petals, the large lip, and very rich colour. It is the finest species of the 
genus, the flowers resembling a Lelia. Lindley’s figure does not do it 
justice. It used to be much persecuted on Mt. Ophir; everyone who 
ascended the mountain brought down bundles of it, and all the best of the 
Spathoglottis aurea, too, until there was but little left. We also get a 
smaller but very attractive plant on all the higher hills of. the peninsula. It 
especially thrives on gravelly islets in the mountain streams, where it is 
often very plentiful. The petals are much narrower than in the former, the 
colouring paler, and the plant only three feet high, and with narrower leaves- 
Although nearer the Indian A. bambuseefolia, it is impossible to distinguish 
it specifically from the. Mt. Ophir plant. Both forms were in common 
cultivation in Singapore, but are not as easy to propagate as the next 
species, and are apt to die out after culture. 
A. SPECIOSA, Blume (Bijdr., p. 401, t. 73), is a short plant, usually abou 
two feet high, sometimes smaller, having smaller white flowers, with a pink 
edge to the lip and a yellow disc. It was originally described from Java, 
but also occurs in Sarawak and the Malay Peninsula. It has been obtained 
at Setul, and used to be abundant as a garden escape or planted on the 
railway banks near Kuala Lampur. On Kedah Peak it grows on the 
northern precipices, and I shall never forget my collecting it there. Just 
between me and it was a large patch of grassy turf, on which I was about 
to step, when an old Sakaj or half-bred wild tribe man who accompanied me 
pulled me back and gave a kick to the turf, which immediately slid off 
