97 
DENDROBIUM MACROPH YLLUM. 
(broad-leaved DENDROBIUM.) 
CLASS. ORDER. 
GYNANDRIA. MONANDRIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
ORCHIDACE^. 
Generic Character. — Sepals membranaceous, erect or spreading, lateral ones larger, oblique, connate with 
the column at the base. Petals higher than the sepals, and often larger, though occasionallv 
smaller, always membranaceous. Labellum with a foot articulated or connate with the column, 
constantly sessile, undivided or three-lobed, sometimes membranaceous, sometimes appendiculate. 
Column semi-cylindrical, very much lengthened at the base. Anthers two-celled. Pollen-masses 
four, collateral, equal. 
Specific Character — Plant epiphytal. Stems strong, pendulous. Leaves ovate-oblong, obtuse, 
distinctly nerved, subcordate at the lower part. Sepals lanceolate, lateral ones equally lengthened. 
Petals obloug, obtuse. Labellum pubescent, folded, with small teeth, ovate, subunguiculate, thick 
below, with three elevated, transverse, obsolete lobes. 
So rapidly do new species of this splendid genus succeed each other, all having 
some additional claim to regard, that scarcely is one pronounced to he the most 
beautiful ere another appears to supplant it. The fact is, that each has an individual 
and peculiar attractiveness ; and, w^ere it not next to impossible to determine which 
possesses it in the highest degree, we should certainly feel disposed to give pre- 
eminence to the superb species figured on the opposite page. 
D. macrophyllum is of the class usually called caulescent ; the stems being, 
moreover, destitute of hairiness, and pendulous. In their young state, they are of 
a pale, tender green hue, thickly covered with leaves, from eighteen inches to two 
feet long, and of nearly the same size throughout. After the first year, however, 
they lose their foliage, and become encased in a series of whitish sheaths ; bearing 
the flowers sometimes in the first season, and occasionally not till the second, near 
their extremities. The leaves are thick, comparatively short and broad, deep 
green, and sessile, assuming the width characteristic of the species chiefly in large 
and old specimens. Of the lovely flowers, our drawing afibrds a very correct 
idea. From twenty to thirty are borne on a plant of moderate age, during the 
VOL. VIII. NO. LXXXIX. O 
