February, 1914. | 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



"3 



DENDROBIUM RUBENS. 



(Ainsworthii x nobile.) 



DENDROBIUM AINSWORTHII, the 

 result of crossing aureum with nobile, 

 was first raised in the collection of 

 Dr. Ainsworth, of Manchester, where it 

 flowered in the year 1874, having taken seven 

 years to reach maturity. Some five years 

 later Messrs. Veitch flowered a similar hybrid, 

 which received the name D. splendidissimum. 



In 1 88 1 a Dendrobium with similar 

 parentage flowered in Mr. Leech's collection 

 at Manchester, and was named Lcechianum 



by Reichenbach, who remarked, " It deserves 

 a name of its own on account of its peculi- 

 arities." Present-day methods of nomencla- 

 ture refer all hybrids with identical parentage 

 to the earliest recorded name, consequently 

 splendidissimum and Leechianum are now 

 regarded as varieties of Ainsworthii. Many 

 other later names for this hybrid can be 

 mentioned, but they are insufficiently known 

 to need repetition. 



Early in 1893 Mr. ("ypher exhibited D. 

 Rubens, obtained by crossing Leechianum 

 Ainsworthii) with nobile, the plant being 

 very floriferous and combining the characters 

 of both parents. A week or so later in the 

 same year Messrs. Veitch flowered a hylirid 



