92 ORCHIDS FOR EVERYONE 



D. PiERARDii is a very free flowering species, with long, 

 slender, pendulous stems, and if grown well in a basket it is a 

 delightful plant when in bloom in the Spring. The somewhat 

 small flowers, rarely more than two inches across, are pale rose- 

 white, with a primrose coloured lip veined at the base with purple. 



D. PRIMULINUM, like the last-named species, is of little value 

 for floral decorations, but it flowers so freely that it deserves to 

 be cultivated for its efi^ectiveness. It has stiff and rather thick 

 stems, about fifteen inches long, semi-pendulous. The chief 

 attraction of the sweetly scented flower is its large rounded, pale 

 yellow, purple-veined lip, the sepals and petals being very narrow 

 in this species, and of a pale rosy lilac shade. 



D. PULCHELLUM is a stately and large flowered species, 

 commonly known in gardens as D. Dalhousieaniim. It is not so 

 free flowering as most of the popular Dendrobiums, and as a 

 consequence it is not so much grown now that the craze is for 

 plants that flower with great freedom and produce flowers that 

 will last a long time when cut. D. pulchellum Is a Burmese 

 species introduced in 1837. ^^^ stems are three to five feet high, 

 and the flowers are borne in pendulous racemes from the top of the 

 stem. Each flower may measure as much as five inches across, 

 and a raceme may carry as many as ten flowers. The colour is 

 tawny yellow, shaded with rose, the lip having two large maroon- 

 purple blotches at its base. 



D. suPERBiENS is a charming species from North Australia 

 and one that grows about thirty inches high, and flowers in the 

 Autumn. It is allied to D. Phalanopsis and carries its crimson- 

 purple flowers in similar fashion. 



D. SUPERBUM has pendulous growths, two to three feet long, 

 and its handsome flowers are about four inches across. The latter 

 are curiously Rhubarb-scented, rich rose-purple, with a deep red- 



