6o 



THK ORCHID WORLD. 



[FX'ccmbcr, lyi.V 



Diacrium hicornuium. 



DIACRIUM BICORNUTUM. 



ALTHOUGH for many \-ears classed as 

 an Epidendrum, it was Bentham 

 ^ who formed for this species the 

 genus Diacrium, remarking that " the pecuhar 

 bi-cornute labellum, which is neither adnate 

 to nor parallel with the column, gives the 

 flower a very different aspect from that of the 

 true species of Epidendrum, and cannot be 

 included in them without doing violence to 

 the generic character." 



D. bicornutum was first introduced by 

 Messrs. Shepherd, of Liverpool, in 1838, from 

 Trinidad, where it is found growing on rocks 

 or small islets so close to the sea that they 

 must often be bathed by salt spray ; it 

 flowered for the first time in this country 

 in the collection of Earl FitzwiUiam, at 

 W'entworth, in April of the following year. 

 Some years later it was detected by Sir 

 Robert Schomburgk in Demerara, where it 

 grows on the trunks of trees on the banks of 

 the river ; the flowers of the Demerara plant 

 are said to differ from the Trinidad type, in 

 having the petals sjxjtted with purple like the 

 lip. It has also been gathered in Tobago and 

 other West India islands. 



An interesting note occurs in the 

 Gardeners' CJironicle, May 2nd, i8g6, 

 written by Mr. \\ . E. Broadway, of Grenada : 

 — " On boulders and bare stumps, which 

 would otherwise be bare and unsightly objects 

 about the Botanic Garden and the Govern- 

 ment House Grounds, clumps of this most 



lovel) \'irgin Mar\- Orchid have been 

 planted, and are now m full blos.som 

 (March 23rd, iSgt)). The pure white flowers 

 with dotted and streaked lip and column 

 base fill the air with a delightful aroma, and 

 these, massed together in profuse numbers, 

 form a very effective sight, glistening in the 

 sun as though covered with frost. W'e have 

 a specimen which differs somewhat from the 

 ordinary white in this respect, that its flowers 

 are purple-tinted, and the lip divisions 

 narrower. The flower stems are darkly 

 coloured throughout, and m consequence 

 ehow up the white bracts distinctly, and thus 

 it resembles D. indivisum. In the other the 

 peduncles are green. The sheathing leaf base 

 has purple lines, the white form green ones. 

 D. indivisum, growing beside its ally, presents 

 a miserable comparison ; its puny white 

 flowers are quickly followed by seed-pods. 

 D. bicornutum is a feature of Government 

 House Grounds during the earl}- months of 

 the year, when its flowers expand in large 

 numbers." 



Cultural Note.- This Orchid has frequently 

 proved disappointing, a circumstance partly 

 due, we have no doubt, to the difficulty of 

 importing it in sound condition. Its hollow 

 stems are inhabited by small ants, which find 

 ingress through a cleft at the base that 

 invariably occurs in the new growths under 

 cultivation, and probably also in a wild state ; 

 they are prone to decay from within, and 

 frequently crack during transmission, and in 

 however small a degree they may be so 



