124 
DENDROBIUM? pubescens. 
Downy-flowered Dendrobium. 
GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA—Nat. Okd. ORCHIDEM. 
Gen. Char.— Labellum ecalcaratum, articulatum cum apice processus ungui-< 
formis, cujus lateribus petala antica adnata, calcar semulantia, Masses 
pollinis 4, parallelse — Br. 
Dendrobium ? pubescens ; bulbo oblongo-ovato, foliis distichis lanceolar. 
tis glabris, scapo elongate, floribusque laxe spicatis pubescentibus, 
labello oblongo trilobo, petalis tribus, exterioribus inferne unitis basi 
saccatis. 
Roots : rather long, simple, brown (even in the youngest of them), thick, 
fleshy fibres, proceed from the lower part of the stem. Stem forming an 
oblongo-ovate bulb, sheathed in a distichous manner with the broad bases 
of the leaves, which are of a pale green colour, and submembranaceous ; 
this bulb tapers at the base into a slender cylindrical stem, covered with 
sheathing scales. Leaves 6 to 8 inches long, lanceolate, rather obtuse, 
waved, subcoriaceous, glabrous, distichous. Scapes one or two in num- 
ber, a foot and a half high, arising from a scaly sheath at the base of the 
bulb, terete, very pubescent. 
Flowers in a lax spike, rather distant, each subtended by an oblong, con-i 
cave bractea. The three exterior petals equal, oblong, acute, greemshi 
yellow, glabrous within, very pubescent without, united at the back of 
the flower, in its lower half, open in the front, except at the base, where a 
didymous sack or pouch is formed : the two inner petals much smaller, 
oblong, glabrous, arising from the back of the column. Lip oblong, 
shorter than the petals, erect and parallel with the petals, oblong with 
the sides incurved, 3-lobed, the lateral lobes small, the terminal one 
roundish, wavy at the margin, notched and recurved at the extremity ; 
jointed upon the decurrent base of the column, but scarcely unguiculate. 
The colour is deep yellow, blotched and streaked with purplish-red. 
Column elongated, free only in its upper part, where it is yellowish, elon^ 
gated and white below, and confluent with the petals to its very base. 
Anther sunk into a hollow at the top of the column, hemispherical, deci- 
duous, 2-celled. Pollen-masses 4, deep yellow, waxy, roundish, com-, 
pressed, cleft to the base, and there inserted upon a short, somewhat gra-i 
nulated stalk, and united by a yellow gland. Germen cylindraceo-cla% 
vate, straight, very downy. 
VOL. II. 
