82 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
NOTES ON ORCHIDS IN THE JUNGLE. 
By MAJOR-GENERAL E. S. BERKELEY. 
(Continued from page 48.) 
AN Orchid equally if not more widely distributed is Dendrobium secundum 
This plant, however, does not, as is the case with many others, show at) 
appreciable differences in the stem, the variation being in the colour of th” 
flowers. The general colour of the flowers of the variety found on th 
Asiatic continent is rose-purple. That of the varieties found in the variols 
Malayan islands is rose, white tipped with rose, and white. Of the mary 
islands I visited in the Malay Archipelago, I do not recollect one in whic 
this Dendrobium was not very plentiful. 
In 1880, when I visited North Andaman, and made friends with th 
previously hostile natives of that island, I found the Andamanese on ott 
occasion very busy beating out the fibre of the stem of a Dendrobium. 
examination I found the stems to be those of D. secundum. On askift 
what they used the fibre for they pointed to their fishing arrows. 
In these islands the natives kill the fish by shooting them witha special!) 
formed arrow. The arrow head is let into a slot in the arrow, and attacht! 
to a long string which is wound round the arrow. When the head strike 
the fish the string is unravelled, leaving the arrow floating on the surface 
the water; thus enabling the natives to swim out and secure the fish; suC! 
a string requires to be of great toughness, and in the fibre of this plant t* 
natives have found a materia] suited to their wants. 
It often struck me that this fibre might be of commercial value. Th 
would be little difficulty in getting plenty of the plant, as it grows in immets 
masses on the trees along the coast. As a florist’s flower it is not sufficiet! 
attractive, but some of the white and light rose insular forms, are decided! 
pretty, and worthy of a place in collections. This plant is only found : 
very hot countries. I am not aware of any variety of it being found 
the hills. 
Another polymorphous species which naturally attracts attention : 
Dendrobium aureum. This lovely species has four quite distinct variell 
So different that they are easily distinguishable from each other. | 
The first in order is the form common in our collections, which is fou") 
in the mountain ranges of Assam and Burmah, from the Khasia Hills, 
the hills at the back of Moulmein on the frontier of Siam. This a 
variety found in many collections under the name of D. heterocarpum- * ee 
Stems are erect, short, and Stout, and rather smooth, and this variety wre 
throughout the hills above noted, being a distance from north to sout 
about five hundred miles. 
: in tht 
The nearest variety to this is the form found in Mysore, and 
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