DENDROBIUM PHAL/ENOPSIS 



There are about 300 species of Dendrobium, all natives 

 either of the tropics of Asia, Australasia, or Polynesia. Many 

 of them have large handsome flowers, and are therefore 

 favourite garden Orchids. With few exceptions, they require 

 tropical treatment, and where the requisite temperature can be 

 afforded many of them are easy to grow. One of the best is 

 D. Phalcenopsis, a native of New Guinea, which was intro- 

 duced in quantity about ten years ago, and has since proved 

 exceptional, even among Dendrobiums, in the size and beauty 

 of its flowers, their range of variation in colour— from white 

 to deep red-purple— and their lasting qualities, and in its free- 

 dom of growth and flower under suitable conditions. It appears 

 to be abundant in a wild state, many thousands of plants 

 being sent home by collectors yearly. It is found growing 

 wild on honey-combed limestone rocks, always exposed to 

 bright sunlight, and so near to the sea that the salt spray 

 reaches the leaves in rough weather. Under cultivation it 

 requires a hothouse with plenty of moisture and sunlight 

 during growth, followed by a rest in a cooler house. It flowers 

 in autumn. In some of the varieties the flowers are three 

 inches across. 



