AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 441 



Renanthera. 



flowers are to be obtained. The potting compost should 

 consist wholly of sphagnum. The pots should be of 

 good size and drained to two-thirds their depth. The 

 plants require an abundance of heat and moisture when 

 growing. The species, when at rest, should have only just 

 sufficient water to pre\'ent the foliage from shrivelling. 



R. coccinea {Lour.). — Owing to the difficulty of many to 

 flower this species, it is not a popular plant in gardens ; it is, 

 however, very easily grown, and when in blossom is a mag- 

 nificent sight. It is of climbing habit, and in its native country 

 clings to the trunks of trees by the white, fleshy roots emitted 

 from the slender stem, which is round and scarcely the thickness 

 of a man's finger. The strap-shaped, dark green leaves are 

 arranged in two rows, and are 4in. to 5in. long, and notched at 

 the tips. The flowers are 2in. to 3in. in depth, and are some- 

 what sparsely produced in loose, branching racemes, measuring 

 2ft. to 3ft. throtigh at the base. The upper sepal and the two 

 petals are strap-shaped, blunt at the tips, and coloured deep red, 

 blotched with orange. The two lower sepals are larger, and form 

 the most conspicuous part of the flower, being of a deep 

 crimson, marked with paler transverse lines ; in shape they are 

 oblong, slightly widened towards the apex, with undulated edges. 

 Both sepals and petals on the outside are orange-coloured, 

 changing to red at the margins. The lip is small, the front and 

 sides being deep crimson, and the throat white ; it is furnished 

 with a pointed, conical spur. This species was introduced from 

 Cochin China in 1816, and it is recorded as having flowered for 

 the first time in 1827. (B. M., tt. 2997 and 2998.) 



R. Imschootiana {Rolfe). — Flowers reddish-vermilion and 

 yellow, simply racemose, somewhat resembling those of R. coc- 

 cinea, but having shorter perianth segments. The plant is very 

 compact, and is best grown in baskets. Assam, 1S92. 



R. Lowii {Rclib. /.). — A synonym of Arachnanthe Lowii. 



R. matutina {Blume). — Flowers at first of a beautiful blood-red, 

 paler outside ; disk of the lateral sepals golden ; base of the 

 petals striped with dark purple ; lip very minute, dark purple ; 

 panicles much-branched, 2ft. to 3ft. long ; peduncles mtense 

 purple. Sunda Isles. 



R. Storeii {Rchh. /.). — Flowers more than 2in. across; sepals 

 and petals dark orange, the lower sepals broad, of a brilliant 

 velvety-crimson, with lighter shades of the same colour; lip small, 

 deep crimson, with small yellow bars, centre white. The most 

 desirable species of the genus. Phihppines, 18S0. 



_^J(itfH'^WWWffHt»»it^W» 



