169 
DENDROBIUM GIBSON 1 1. 
(mr. gibson's dfndrobium. ) 
class. order. 
GYNANDRIA. MONANDRIA. 
natural order. 
ORCHIDACEjE. 
Generic Character. — See vol. iii. p. 77. 
Specific Character. — Plant a stove Epiphyte, with pendulous, round, jointed, tapering stems. Leaves 
ovate-lanceolate, acute. Racemes lateral, many-flowered, twice the length of the leaves. Bracteas 
ovate, situated at the base of the pedicels. Sepals broadly ovate, ohtuse. Petals slightly cucullate, 
deep orange. Labellum expansive, very broad, fringed and undulated at the margin, with two dark 
purple spots on the upper part. 
No genus of orchidaceous plants contributes more to the gaiety of the stove 
than Dendrobium ; and perhaps if the species are viewed collectively, it may be 
considered as a group of plants unrivalled in beauty. Through the zeal and 
liberality of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire in furnishing a mission to India, we 
are enabled to bring into notice a new and highly-beautiful species of this genus, 
which was introduced to Chatsworth in 1837 by Mr. J. Gibson, his Grace's collec- 
tor, having been discovered by him on the Khoseea Hills, in India. 
It is scarcely surpassed in point of real beauty and ornament by any other 
species of the splendid genus. The rich orange-coloured flowers, gracefully depend- 
ing from the almost leafless stem, and produced in astonishing profusion, rendered 
striking by the two large and almost black spots on their delicately-fringed labellum, 
have a most enchanting appearance when expanded, and enliven the orchidaceous 
house for a considerable time. The flowers are produced in long racemes, each 
bearing from ten to fifteen of them, and are somewhat similar to those of D. chry- 
mnthum, but of a much deeper orange colour. These two species differ also in the 
mode of flowering, the flowers of D. chri/santhum being produced in pairs along 
the sides of the stems, while those of the one here figured appear in racemes. 
vol. v. — no. lvi. z 
