200 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [JuLy, 1908. 
BROMHEADIA FINLAYSONIANA. 
A very distinct Malayan Orchid has again appeared in cultivation, namely 
Bromheadia Finlaysoniana, Rchb. f.—better known under its other name 
of B. palustris, Lindl.—a plant received from the Singapore Botanic 
Garden having just flowered at Kew. It was originally introduced to 
cultivation over sixty years ago, and flowered with J. D. Llewelyn, Esq., at 
Penllergare, who received it from Cuming, with the information that it had 
been ‘“‘ dug out of a bog in Sumatra.” Lindley had previously seen a dried 
specimen collected in Singapore by Finlayson, and described it under the 
name of Grammatophyllum ? Finlaysonianum (Gen. & Sp. Orch. p. 173), and 
now recognizing its identity with the cultivated plant, and its distinctness 
‘from Gramatophyllum, he described it under the name of Bromheadia 
palustris, the genus being dedicated to Sir Edward French Bromhead, 
F.R.S. Soon afterwards it bloomed in the collection of the Duke of 
Northumberland, at Sion House, from which source it was figured both in 
the Botanical Magazine (t. 4001), and the Botanical Register (1844, t. 18). It 
was not inaptly compared with Epidendrum elongatum in habit, but the 
flowers are much larger, though, unfortunately, they only last a single day, 
being more fleeting than many Sobralias, to which they bear some little 
resemblance. They are white, or faintly tinged with pink, with a large 
yellow area on the disc of the lip, and some purple veining on the side lobes. 
The segments are abont 1} inches long. The species, according to Mr. 
Ridley, is very common in Singapore, growing usually among the ferns and 
long grasses, in open districts, rarely in shady or damp places. It is 
distributed over the whole of the Malay Peninsula, from Siam southwards, 
and extends through the Malay Islands from Sumatra to Borneo and the 
Philippines. It is said to be a sun-loving plant, and, like Dendrobium 
crumenatum, and some others, periodic in its flowering, though compatra- 
tively seldom out of bloom. The flowers are fertilised by a species of 
carpenter bee (Xylocopa). It grows from a little over a foot up to about 
five feet high, and occasionally to as much as eight feet in damp places. 
The inflorescence is flexuose, and continues to elongate and flower for a long 
time, the flowers coming from the axils of cup-shaped bracts, which are 
closely and distichously arranged on the axis. The species was also 
described by Griffith as Ccelogyne caulescens (Notul. iii. p. 282). Several 
new species have recently been described by Ridley, bringing the number 
up to eight, of which three are terrestrial (including the present one) and 
five epiphytic. None of the others have been introduced to Europe, and 
can only be described as of botanical interest. The epiphytic kinds are 
more comparable with Dendrobium section Aporum in habit. 
R. A. R. 
