500 



ORCHIDS 



Van da. 



Var. hebraica has sulphur-coloured sepals and petals, curiously 

 marked on the inside with spots and bars, the resemblance of 

 which to Hebrew characters suggested the name. Burma, 1885. 

 (W. O. A, t. 248.) 



V. gigantea {Lindl.). — A synonym of Stauropsis gigantea. 



V. Hookeriana {Rchb. f.). — One of the most remarkable 

 Vandas in cultivation. It has terete stems and leaves, as in the 

 better-known V. teres, from which, however, it may be easily 

 distinguished by its paler green, pointed, and slenderer leaves, 

 and its altogether less robust appearance. Under cultivation 



Fig. 168. Flower of Vanda Hookeriana 

 (3 nat. size). 



the racemes usually produce two flowers, but specimens have 

 been collected in a wild state bearing as many as five ; each 

 flower is 2iin. in diameter. The sepals are oblong, white, tinged 

 with rose. The petals are broadly spathulate, wavy, larger than 

 the sepals, white, spotted with magenta. The lip is liin. broad, 

 white, the side lobes being lined transversely, and the middle 

 one longitudinally, with magenta-purple ; spots of the same 

 colour occur round the edges ; at the base there are two 

 triangular, deep purple appendages, one on each side of the 

 column. After several unsuccessful attempts to introduce this 

 species alive, the task was finally accomplished by Messrs. Hugh 

 Low and Co. in 1S73, but these plants did not flower until 1882. 



