142 EPIDENDKE^. Chap. V 



This contrivance is not common to all the species of 

 the genus ; for in neither D. higibbum nor B. formosum 

 was the filament of the anther elastic, nor was the 

 middle line of the labellum thickened. In D. tortile 

 the filament is elastic; but as I examined only a 

 single flower, and before I had made out the structure 

 of D. ehrysanthum, I cannot say how it acts. 



Mr. Anderson states * that on one occasion the flowers 

 of his Dendrohium cretaceum did not expand, and yet 

 they produced capsules, one of which he sent me. 

 Almost all the numerous seeds in this capsule con- 

 tained embryos, thus differing greatly from the cases 

 presently to be giren of the self-fertilised seeds from 

 the non-expanded flowers of a Cattleya. Mr. Anderson 

 remarks that Dendrobiums are the sole representatives 

 of the Malaxese which, as far as he has seen, spon- 

 taneously form capsules. He likewise states that in 

 the immense group of the Vandeae, hereafter to be 

 described, none of the species under his care, with 

 the exception of some belonging to the sub-division 

 of the Brassidae and of Sareanthus parisMi, has ever 

 spontaneously produced a capsule. 



EPIDENDEE^. 



The Epidendreae and Malaxeae are characterised by 

 the pollen-grains cohering ■ into large waxy masses. 

 In the latter of these groups the poUinia are said not 

 to be furnished with caudicles, but this is not imi- 

 versally the case, for they exist in MasdevaUia fenes- 

 trata and some other species in an efficient condition, 

 although unattached and of minute size. In the 

 Epidendreae, on the other hand, free or unattached 

 caudicles are always present. For my purpose these 



' Journal of Hoiticulture,' 1863, pp. 20C, 287. 



