49 
DENDROBIUM FORMOSUM. 
(beautiful DENDROBIUM.) 
CJ.ASS. ORDKR. 
GYNANDRIA. MONANDRIA. 
natural ordkr. 
ORCHIDACEtE. 
Generic Character. — Vide vol. iii. p. 77. 
Specific Character Stems terete, pendulous, slightly hairy. Leaves opposite, ovate, obliquely emar- 
ginate at the summit, obtuse. Racemes short, terminal, four or five flowered. Bracts small, ovate. 
Floivers large, white. Sepals oblong, acute ; lateral ones elongated into an obtuse spur at their 
base. Petals two, broader than the sepals, partially covered by the labellum, acute. Labellum 
ovate, extended beyond the petals, retuse, comnate with the base of the column. 
It must be highly gratifying to the admirers of orchidaceas to witness the 
annual accession to our collections of so many noble species, of which little or 
nothing is previously known. The number of these delightful plants that has been 
imported within the last few years, is wholly without a precedent in the annals of 
floriculture. Yet, notwithstanding this immense influx, the reserve is still ample ; 
indeed, new and unexplored districts are continually presenting themselves, the 
beauty of whose vegetable offspring seems to invite their removal to countries 
where they can be admired and enjoyed by those nobler beings for whose gratifi- 
cation more especially they unfold their charms. 
Perhaps no genus, throughout the whole tribe, displays so many lovely species 
as Dendrohium. Their graceful, airy form, the delicate hue and texture of their 
flowers, and their delicious fragrance, entitle them to a very distinguished place in 
our esteem. Of all the species, however, hitherto discovered, the one of which a 
figure is appended is acknowledged to be the finest. The flowers being white, 
necessarily suffer in a representation on paper, but their unusual size imparts even 
here an air of superiority, which is fully maintained by their enchanting appearance 
when depending naturally from the parent stem. 
This handsome plant v^^as received at Chats worth, the seat of His Grace the 
Duke of Devonshire, in the autumn of 1837, having been collected for His Grace 
by Mr. J. Gibson, in a district called Pondooah, at the base of the Khoseea Hills, 
VOL. VI. NO. LXIII. H 
