284 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



made water-colour drawings of many interesting plants in the collect* 

 She is known in the literary world as the authoress of Three Generations 

 English Women and other works. 



BULBOPHYLLUM HAMELINII. 



Although known in gardens for upwards of nine years, this remarkable 

 species has only now, we believe, bloomed in Europe for the first time, the 

 honour resting with Mr. F. W. Moore, of the Royal Botanic Garden, 

 Glasnevin. The earliest notice of the plant that we know of appeared in 

 Garden and Forest for 1893, (page 336) and is as follows :— 



" Bulbophyllum Hamelinil— This is another of Messrs. Sander & 

 •Co.'s recent introductions. It is a remarkable and distinct looking 

 Madagascar plant, with pseudobulbs like some great flat marine shell, and 

 leaves that are in shape, size and colour like those of Oncidium ampliatum 

 majus; the flower stem is erect, thick as one's finger, eighteen inches long 

 and shows as many as 150 flower seats. No description of the flowers was 

 /given, as the collector had not seen them. There is no Bulbophyllum in 

 cultivation anything like this plant, the pseudobulbs being four inches 

 across and pressed flat against the thick rhizome, which evidently clings 

 tightly to the branches of trees. Whatever the flowers of this plant may 

 turn out to be, it is certainly worthy of a place in all representative tropical 

 collections on account of its peculiar pseudobulbs."— W., London. 



The inflorescence now produced agrees well with the one described 



above, being stout and with the 



raceme bent over almost at a right angle 



and measuring 4 inches long by i* inches broad ; the rachis itself measuring 

 5 hnes in diameter, on which the flowers are densely arranged. The bracts 

 are ovate-oblong in shape, rather longer than the flowers at the base, but 

 decreasing upwards, and more or less suffused with red-purple. The flowers 

 have the typical Bulbophyllum shape, and the ovate-oblong sepals measure 

 half an inch long, and are suffused and spotted with red-purple, the ground 

 colour becoming paler towards the base. The subulate, acute petals are 

 whitish, margined with dark purple-brown, and the broad fleshy papillose 

 lip is wholly of the latter colour above, but whitish underneath. The 

 ■column and its small acute teeth are white. Like many of its allies, it 

 possesses a highly disagreeable odour. It is certainly a remarkable species, and 

 one of the giants of the genus, an imported leaf measuring as much as 16 

 inches long by 4 * inches broad. In some respects it recalls the remarkable 

 Bornean B. Beccarii, though the two species differ in numerous particulars. 

 The latter now seems to have disappeared from our collections. 



R. A. Rolfe. 



