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DENDROBIUM DEVONIANUM. 
(duke of Devonshire's dendrobium.) 
CLASS. OllDER. 
GYNANDRTA. MONANDRIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
ORCHIDACEiE. 
Generic Character — Vide Vol. iii. p. 77. 
Specific Character. — Plant epiphytal, caulescent. Stems very slender, drooping at the extremities, 
jointed ; nodes rather distant. Leaves alternate, ovate-lanceolate, partially clasping the stem at the 
base. Flowers most frequently in clusters of three, appearing towards the points of the older stems, 
large; sepals nearly oblong, acute, cream-coloured, with a consideiable dash of pinkish purple; 
petals somewhat broader, fringed at the edges, with less of pink, and a stain of a deeper hue at the 
points ; labellum broadly roundish, slightly concave, with an acute, recurved, purple extremity, 
deeply and very beautifully fimbriated round the margin, and having a spreading orange-coloured blotch 
on either side of the centre. 
To draw Indian Orchidaceae from their secret haunts, communication with the 
Botanical Gardens established by the Hon. East India Company at Calcutta, and 
those more recently formed in other districts, however useful it may be in obtaining 
the species that exist at or near such establishments, cannot be fully effectual ; and 
it is only by sending special agents to a prescribed tract, with instructions to 
explore it perfectly, that we can hope completely to furnish our orchidaceous houses 
with the most specious of tropical epiphytes. 
It will be in the recollection of every one conversant with floricultural affairs, 
or who favours these pages with a perusal, that His Grace the Duke of Devonshire 
despatched a collector to the East Indies on this plan in the year 1835, who, 
returning in 1837, brought numbers of plants that were new to Britain. Our 
Magazine has been the vehicle of depicting a portion of these, and it affords us 
great gratification to be permitted to give publicity to another which promises to 
surpass most of its allies in loveliness, and is therefore precisely the plant best 
adapted to bear the title of that munificent nobleman through whose aid it 
has been discovered. For if the patrons of floriculture are to be commemorated in 
flowers whose merits betoken the degree of support which the individual after 
whom they are named bestows on the science, it is only meet that one of the most 
noble should be associated with the loveliest that can be selected. 
D. Bevonianum was revealed to Mr. Gibson during his tour over the Khoseea 
VOL. VII. — NO. LXXX. Z 
