dend] 



El)t CDrca^ttrj) ai 300tanj). 



392 



Of cultivated species, with flowers in 

 which purple predominates, we have B. 

 nobile, perhaps the most beautiful in the 

 genus. It has erect stems one to two 

 feet high, bearing at intervals two or 

 three-flowered peduncles, the flowers when 

 expanded being two to three inches across. 

 The petals and sepals are fain tly rose-colour- 

 ed at the base, and bright purple towards 

 apex ; the lip rolled up so as to be nearly 

 trumpet-shaped, with a recurved border 

 which is greenish-yellow at the edges and 

 purple at the end, while the tube is of a 

 deep blood-red colour. There are a number 

 of fine varieties of this plant cultivated. 

 B. macranthum, from Manilla, has rich 

 rose-coloured flowers, sometimes five in- 

 ches across; the ovate lip is margined 

 with a delicate fringe of hairs, and marked 

 at the base on either side with a deep purple 

 blotch. B. Macarthice, called in Ceylon 

 Wissak-mal, meaning rainy-month flower, 

 has slender stems one to two feet long, 

 and three to five-flowered racemes ; the 

 flowers of a pale purple, three inches wide. 

 B. Falconeri, from Bhotan, is readily re- 

 cognised by the markedly tumid joints of 

 its slender stems ; the beautiful large soli- 

 tary flowers have pale rose-coloured petals 

 and sepals tipped with dark purple, the 

 lip having a deep purple blotch at the base 

 bordered by a yellow ring. These are all 

 lovely plants. In the yellow-flowered 

 group we have B.ftmbriatum from Nepal, 

 with racemes of fine yellow flowers from 

 near the apex of thenaked stems; avariety 

 of this occurs with a deep red spot at the 

 base of the beautifully fringed lip. B. 

 densiflorum has stout stems which end in a 

 tuft of glossy leaves, setting off to great 

 advantage the fine dense clusters of droop- 

 ing golden-yellow flowers : this is one of 

 the finest in the genus. Mr. Darwin, in 

 his book on orchids, gives an account of 

 the self-fertilisation of B. chrysantlmm, 

 which belongs to this group. Amongst a 

 host of species with drooping stems, we 

 have B. Pierardi, with delicate pale lilac 

 flowers ; and the beautiful little B. Bevo- 

 nianum, named after the late Duke of De- 

 vonshire, the lovely flowers of which have a 

 white ground colour, the sepals and petals 

 tipped with pink, and the heart-shaped 

 frilled lip marked with a pink blotch at the 

 apex, and two yellow spots near the base. 

 No collection should want the B. HUM, of 

 Australia, which is an improvement on 

 the better known B. speciosum. Its stout 

 stems bear a number of large glossy green 

 leaves, and a profusion of dense flowered 

 racemes, the creamy-white narrow-petaled 

 flowers of which have a highly agreeable 

 odour. The generic name is derived from 

 the Greek, signifying tree and life, from 

 the plants living on trees. [A. A. B.] 



DENDROCHILUM. A genus of orchids 

 found growing on branches or trunks of 

 trees in the Malayan Archipelago. They 

 have short and fleshy pseudo-bulbs, each 

 with a single coriaceous leaf, and their 

 small green, white, or yellowish flowers 

 are arranged in slender, terminal, or lateral 



bracted spikes six to eight inches long ; 

 the bracts arranged in a two-ranked man- 

 ner. The anther is two-celled, with four in- 

 cumbent pollen masses ; while the column 

 has two short horns in front, and the lip 

 is entire. About a dozen species are 

 known ; of which one is B. glumaceum, a 

 very pretty Philippine Island plant, culti- 

 vated in orchid houses for the sake -of its 

 graceful drooping spikes of ivory-white 

 flowers, the leaves resembling those of the 

 lily of the valley ; and another is the grace- 

 ful little B. filiforme, in which the flowers 

 are bright yellow. [A. A. B.] 



DENDROID. Divided at the top into a 

 number of branches, so as to resemble the 

 head of a tree ; only applied to small plants 

 like mosses. 



DENDROLOBIUM. A genus of small 

 leguminous trees found in the tropical 

 countries of the eastern hemisphere, but 

 in greatest abundance in India. They only 

 differ from Desmodium in their small joint- 

 ed pods, about an inch in length, being 

 somewhat rounded, and in the disposition 

 of the flowers. The leaves are made up 

 of three oblong or oval leaflets, usually 

 downy or covered underneath with silvery 

 hairs. The flowers, in little axillary fasci- 

 cles or umbels, are white and inconspicu- 

 ous. [A. A. B.] 



DENDROMECON. A genus of shrubby 

 Papaveracece found in California, and hav- 

 ing two ovate caducous sepals, fourpetals, 

 numerous stamens with filiform filaments 

 and linear anthers, two short thick sessile 

 stigmas, and a siliquseform one-celled two- 

 valved pod, with a marginal placenta and 

 numerous seeds. Bendromecon, literally 

 Tree Poppy, is a most appropriate name, 

 the plant having all the aspect and charac- 

 ter of the poppy tribe, combined with a 

 woody stem and branches. The species, B. 

 rigidu.m, has lance-shaped glaucous leaves, 

 and yellow flowers resembling those of 

 Meconopsis cambrica. [T. M.] 



DENDRON. In Greek compounds = a 

 tree. 



DENDROPEMON. A genus of Loran- 

 thacece, parasitic shrubs from the Antilles, 

 with small white or purplish flowers in 

 simple racemes, rarely paniculate or 

 corymbose. It differs from Loranthus in 

 having the alternate anthers abortive, the 

 style filiform, and the flowers conspicu- 

 ously bracteated. [J. T. S.] 



DENDROPHTHOE. A genus of Loran- 

 thacecc, natives of Australia, Asia and the 

 Cape of Good Hope, distinguished from 

 Loranthus and its near allies by having the 

 petals united into atube. They are parasitic 

 shrubs, with long green yellowish or pur- 

 ple flowers, the peduncles several flowered, 

 racemose or fasciculate. [J. T. S.] 



DENDROSERIS. A few small trees pecu- 

 liar to the island of Juan Fernandez make 

 up this composite genus, which is nearly 

 allied to the hawk-weeds, though the plants 

 have more the appearance of gigantic sow- 



