THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
VoL. VIII.] _ JUNE, 1900. [No. go. 
HYBRID DENDROBIUMS. 
Hysrip DENDROBIUMS are becoming very numerous, and during the present 
season we have examined quite a series of them from various sources. This 
addition to the ranks of our most beautiful spring-flowering Orchids is a 
cause for congratulation, but at the same time it introduces difficulties 
_ under the heading of nomenclature, and causes some embarrassment to those 
who desire to keep an intelligible record of what is being done in this 
department. We have several times been asked to suggest suitable names 
for such and such hybrid, to call it after the raiser, or to apply some other 
appellation ; in a few cases with the sensible proviso, ‘if it has not already 
been named.” To comply with this request is often no easy matter, and 
for several reasons. In the first place, we have not yet any uniform system of 
recording what has already been done, and in the second, the materials 
accumulate so rapidly and so continuously that lists quickly become out 
of date, and it is almost impossible to keep up with the records. Of these 
~ causes, however, want of system is undoubtedly the greater evil, if not the 
most difficult to remedy, and a few suggestions on the matter generally may 
not be out of place. . ‘ - | 
We have a rule, which has met with pretty ger eral acceptance, that all 
hybrids between the same two species shall be considered as forms of one, 
a varietal name being added whenever necessary. But it is not always 
strictly followed, for the hybrid between -D. nobile and D. aureum, one of 
the earliest and best known in the genus, has received several distinct 
‘names, though, strictly speaking, all are forms of the original D. X 
Ainsworthii, ee 
The same principle is applicable to the trea ment of secondary hybrids, 
and has sometimes been followed, though frequently they are treated as 
florists’ flowers, and named without reference to their -origin. A good 
example of the latter method is | te ed by the hybrid between D. X 
