INCONSPICUOUS AND RAEELY CULTIVATED ORCHIDS. 141 



drainage, then put in the plant and fill up to the rhizome of each plant 

 with good fibrous peat and a little sphagnum. These plants enjoy an 

 abundant supply of water, and during the growing season must be taken 

 down two or three times during the week and receive attention as to their 

 requirements. In winter they need but little w^ater, yet care must be 

 taken to avoid the shrivelling of the pseudo-bulbs, or the plants will be 

 permanently injured. Cirrhopetalums generally thrive well in the warmest 

 house, but should any plant show signs of ill-health, remove it to the 

 intermediate house. These plants should always be kept on the shady 

 side of the house, as they resent sunshine while appreciating light. 



These cultural remarks apply also to the Bulbophyllums, of w^hich 

 many are striking and beautiful. This genus consists of a very large 

 number of species known to science, and anything like a full reference 

 to the genus would greatly exceed the time at my disposal. Its 

 geographical range is very extensive, probably spreading over a larger 

 area than any other Orchid genus. The greater number of Bulbo- 

 phyllums come from East India and the Malay Archipelago, but many 

 are found in Africa, Madagascar, and even in Australia and New Zealand, 

 where B. pygmcBum has its home. Three species of Bulbophyllum — 

 B. grandiflorum, B. Hamelinii, and B. Beccarii — cannot be classed as 

 "inconspicuous" Orchids, the latter being in size the giant of the 

 genus, its enormous rhizome encircling the trees to w^hich it is attached 

 like the coils of a serpent. Its flowers have an odour unpleasant enough 

 to exclude it from general cultivation, the foetor rivalling that of Aristo- 

 lochia gigas, Stapelias, &c. Many of the known Bulbophyllums ha\e 

 undoubtedly proved objects of marked interest, even where the more 

 show^y species of other genera hold sway. Prominent among them is the 

 remarkable B. harhigerum (fig.- 73, on large plate). I cannot do better to 

 convey an idea of its peculiarities than by again quoting Dr. Lindley's 

 description : " The lip is one of the most extraordinary organs known even 

 among Orchidaceous plants, the very long purple threads forming the 

 brush at the point of the lip are so excessively delicate that the slightest 

 disturbance of the air sets them in motion, when they wave gently to and 

 fro like a tuft of threads cut from a spider's web. Nor is this all ; the lip 

 itself, with its yellow felt, its tw^o beards, and its long purple brush, is 

 articulated with the column by such a very slight joint that to breathe 

 upon it is sufficient to produce a rocking movement, so conspicuous and 

 protracted that one is tempted to believe that there must be something 

 of an animal nature infused into this most unplant-like production." 



Bulbojjhylhim comosum is found in Eastern Burmah, on the Shan 

 Hills at an altitude of 6,000 ft. The stout ascending scapes are 

 furnished at the top with drooping racemes of closely set small white 

 flowers, each measuring about half an inch in length, and covered with 

 short hair-like processes, the whole head having a resemblance to a 

 bottle-brush. It belongs to the deciduous section, the members of which 

 require to be dried oft' for a time after the leaves fade, as do B. hirtum 

 and B. auricomum. A peculiarity of this section of Bulbophyllums is 

 that the entire plant, leaves (especially when drying or dried), and flowers 

 have a delicate but strong odour of new-mown hay. The flower of 

 B. auricomum is, owing to its pleasant fragrance, a great favourite with 



