AUGUST, 1903.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 227 
In my last notes I referred to the resuscitation of the ill-fated Lindley 
Medal, and to some of the correspondence which took place respecting it. 
dt was, therefore, the more interesting to see that the circumstances of its 
inauguration have been unearthed, as recorded at page 220. And I see 
that there is a question of precedence attached to it that I was not aware 
of, for it is stated that it is to be ‘‘second in value to the gold Banksian.” 
I wonder what is the value of the Flora Medal, now so frequently awarded 
to Orchids ? 
ARGUS. 
DIDYMOPLEXIS PALLENS. 
‘SSAPROPHYTIC Orchids are notoriously difficult to cultivate, and it is only 
on very rare occasions ithat they are seen in collections. The above 
remarkable species is, however, now flowering at Kew, the plant having 
tecently been sent from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta. It is figured 
from living examples in the Orchids of Sikkim (King and Pantling in Ann. 
R. Bot. Gard. Calc., viii., p. 260, t. 346), where it is showed as a whitish 
unbranched leafless plant, about five inches high, with a few terminal 
flowers, strongly suffused with brown, whose lip bears a broad’ median 
band, studded with numerous brown warts arranged somewhat in transverse 
rows. The subterranean tubers are moniliform, the thickened portions 
being fusiform in shape. The brownish colour of the flowers is probably 
due to their having been placed in formalin for a short time, as the Kew 
flowers are quite white. It is described as occurring in the bottoms of 
tropical valleys, usually under clumps of bamboo, and evidently parasitic 
on their roots. It is said to. be distributed over the whole of Bengal and 
Assam, from the base of the Sikkim Himalaya to the Bay of Bengal; also 
in Southern India and Perak. And it may be added that it has recently 
‘been found in Formosa and in the Philippine Islands. The most remark- 
able feature about the plant is that after fertilisation the pedicel grows 
enormously, from half-an-inch to over six inches long, at the same time 
increasing in thickness, and bearing.at its apex an elliptical capsule about nine 
lines long. Mr. W. B. Hemsley has called attention to this unique character 
of the plant (Journ. Linn. Soc., xx, pp. 308-311, t. 28), remarking ‘‘ theonly use 
of this extension of the pedicel that I can suggest is that it carries up the 
ripening ‘fruit above the decaying vegetable matter in which the plant 
grows.” Griffith states that it grew about clumps of bamboos in the 
villages round Calcutta, whence it was introduced into the Botanic Gardens 
there. It will be interesting to see if the plant proves amenable to 
cultivation. 
m. A. KOLFE.. 
