September, 1912.] 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



267 



ARACHNANTHE ANNAMENSIS. 



The genus Arachnanthe is 

 not a large one, but nearly 

 all the species are curious 

 and interesting, as well as 

 beautiful. Sir Frederick 

 Moore, of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Glasnevin, when 

 looking through an importa- 

 tion of Orchids sent to Messrs. 

 Sander and Sons from 

 Annam, selected one from a 

 number of distichous-leaved 

 plants. It flowered the 

 following year, June, 1905, 

 and proved to be Arachnanthe 

 annamensis, a very remark- 

 able species. The plant, 

 which has flowered several 

 times since, is not a very 

 vigorous grower ; in fact, 

 several of these Annam plants 

 seem rather fastidious as to 

 the right temperature in 

 which to be grown. 



The leaves are narrow 

 and rather short, but the 

 inflorescence is stout and 

 erect, well elevated above 

 the head of the plant, and 

 the flowers are large and 

 showy. The segments are 

 narrow, the two lateral sepals 

 and the two lateral petals arc 

 bent in a falcate manner, 

 giving a weird appearance to 

 the inflorescence of eight to 

 ten flowers. The single 

 flowers are over five inches, 

 by three to three and a half 

 broad. The red ground 

 colour, on which are trans- 

 verse bars of yellow produces 

 a very bright and attractive 

 addition to the Orchid house. Our illustra- 

 tion is reproduced from a photograph of the 

 plant as it flowered with .Sir Frederick 



iK.H.S.JonnmlJ 



Arachnanthe annamensis. 

 Moore, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glas- 

 nevin. The white aerial roots with their 

 bright green tips arc plainly visible. 



