﻿THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



[September, 1904. 



hanging the smaller streams, it sometimes occurs in company with Cypri- 

 pedium Lowii. In the low, swampy forest near the coast of Sarawak, it is 

 said by Curtis to be abundant, and in the rainy season many of the trees on 

 which it grows are only accessible by means of a canoe. 



The species appears to have flowered for the first time in cultivation 

 in 1862, in the establishment of Messrs. James Veitch & Sons. In the 

 report of one of the R.S.H. Shows, held on July 2nd of that year, it is 

 recorded that Messrs. Veitch sent a " magnificent collection," including 

 " Vanda Lowi, with a fine spike of rich reddish brown and buff blossoms, 

 two of which at the base of the spike were yellow" {Gard. Chron., 1862, 

 p. 622). This appears to be the earliest record of the occurrence of two kinds 

 of flowers, which afterwards attracted so much atttention. This plant had 

 been sent home by Thomas Lobb. Shortly afterwards we find it flowering, 

 in great perfection in the collection of S. Rucker, Esq., West Hill, 

 Wandsworth, when the following note appeared {Gard, Chron., 1862, 

 p. 791) : — " There is now in bloom here a magnificent specimen of Vanda 

 Lowei, a Bornean species of extraordinary beauty, introduced to this 

 country some years ago by Messrs. Low, of Clapton. It is planted in a 

 large pot filled with sphagnum and broken bricks, sunk in the floor of the 

 house in which it is growing, and measures quite 8 feet in height. It has 

 four lateral branches besides the main stem, all of which are furnished with 

 long drooping chain-like flower spikes, eight in number, and measuring 

 quite 7 feet in length, festooning from the roof, to which they are attached 

 in the most graceful manner imaginable. These are covered with large 

 showy blossoms, having a buff or rather pale lemon ground colour, most 

 beautifully barred and blotched with rich cinnamon brown. When we 

 state that on each spike there are at least forty flowers fully expanded at 

 one time, not huddled together in a confused way, but set at regular 

 distances apart, varying from three to four inches, some idea of the gloriou s 

 appearance presented by a specimen of the size just described may be 

 conceived. A singular circumstance connected with the inflorescence is, 

 that at the base of every spike are two, and in some instances three, 

 blossoms of a rich orange yellow, covered with minute black spots, and 

 quite different in colour and form from that of the rest of the flowers on the 

 same spike. . . . To Mr. Pilcher, Mr. Rucker's gardener, has been 

 reserved the credit of first showing what this Vanda is capable of becoming 

 under good cultivation, and well has the task been performed." 



Since that time it has flowered in various collections, and numerous figures 

 have appeared showing its remarkable character, and the way that the 

 racemes have to be supported owing to their great length. One of these shows 

 a plant which flowered in the collection of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, at 



