96 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [May-JUNE, 1919. 
Botanic Garden. Lastly, we have the true D. maculata, Smith, which 
flowered at Glasnevin, as above pointed out. 
When D. alba was figured, Sir Joseph Hooker remarked: “The beauty 
of the terrestrial Orchids in the Australian Colonies is proverbial. In 
spring and summer the meadows.are in many places enamelled with them, 
and it is no unusual thing to find thirty or forty species in a comparatively 
limited area, comprised under the genera Diuris, Thelymitra, Prasophyllum, 
Glossodia, and Pterostylis, and in such quantities that bouquets may be 
made of them in any number, and I feel assured that in no other part of the 
world may so many different forms of Orchids be found ina given small 
area as in the Australian Colonies. Unfortunately, though easily procured 
and transported to Europe, they are cultivated there with great difficulty, 
flowering once only, if at all, and disappearing for ever after, a result 
probably due to our uncongenial seasons.” Probably they would succeed 
better if grown inside, under something like Disa treatment. 
About twenty species of Diuris have been described, and at least three are 
of suspected natural hybrid origin. They are rather Disa-like in habit, and 
the flowers are relatively large, and clear yellow in colour, sometimes with 
brown markings, but white and lilac-blue are also represented. They 
are characterised by the narrow or elongated lateral sepals and the spathulate 
petals.. Probably more remains to be discovered about the natural hybrid 
‘question, and some observations by Fitzgerald are significant. 
DIuRIs sEcUNDIFLORA, Fitzg., is only known from the Macleay River, 
where it was found growing in a small cluster On an open bank. The 
author remarks that it approaches D. alba, D. elongata, and D. pedunculata, 
and may possibly be a hybrid. The spike is one-sided, and the flowers 
yellow, with long green lateral sepals, and the stalk of the petals red-purple. 
D. DENDROBIOIDEs, Fitzg., is a rare plant, of which the author — 
remarks: ‘‘The two plants observed by me grew close together in a field 
where numbers of D. elongata and D. pedunculata were in flower, and they 
may have originated from a cross between the two species.” The flowers 
are of a peculiar purple-brown shade, while the first of the two suggested 
parents is lilac-blue and the other yellow. 
iy. TRICOLOR, Fitzg., though found in several localities, is suspiciously 
intermediate between D. abbreviata and D. elongata, with which and D. 
pedunculata it was found growing at Guntawang. The elongated lateral 
sepals are green, and the rest of the flower yellow, with some lilac-blue 
markings on the lip, and some similar veining at the base of the petals. 
There is also a suspected natural hybrid between D. maculata and D. 
pedunculata, and an examination of localities where the species grow 
together might yield some interesting results. 
R.A.R. 
