[Plate 64.] 



THE WHITE AND SANGUINE DENDROBE. 



(dendrobium albosanguineum.) 

 A Hothouse Epiphyte, from Moulmein, belonging to the Natural Order of Orchids. 



Specific Character. 



THE WHITE AND SANGUINE DENDROBE (Eudendrobes).— Stems thick, erect. Flowers in pairs, nodding, 

 with herbaceous scale-like bracts. Sepals linear-lanceolate, the side ones extended into a short, obtuse, rounded 

 chin. Petals oblong, incurved, very much broader. Lip roundish-obovate, flat, retuse, apiculate, quite entire. 



SOME of the finest species of this genus are found in the division which we formerly 

 characterised under the name of Eudendrobium, consisting of plants with leafy 

 .stems and flowers growing in pairs, or perhaps threes, from the sides of the stem. The 

 division is separated from Desmotrichum, on the one hand, by the lip not being broken 

 up into a tuft of hairs, and, on the other, from Stachyobium, by the flowers not 

 forming racemes. 



Of the Eudendrobes, about a third have the lip divided distinctly into three lobes, 

 and these consist for the most part of small-flowered species of little interest, although 

 they also include such charming plants as I). Rucheri, sanguinolentum, villosulum, and 

 Jerclonianum, if the two last species are really distinct from each other, as would seem 

 from no mention being made by Dr. Wight of hair upon the stems of the last. 



The remainder consist of a number of species, in which the lip has no lateral 

 lobes, but forms, when flattened, a circular or oblong plate. Of this division there are 

 three natural groups, of which it is not easy to define the limits, but which the culti- 

 vator will readily appreciate. Of the first, D. macropliyllum and noiile may be taken 

 as types; of the second, D. Pierarcli and pulchellum ; while the third includes the 

 yellow-flowered species, such as D. clirysanthiim and auream. To the last group be- 

 longs the very remarkable plant now figured. 



