DENDROBIUM LONGICORNU- LONG-HOMED DENDROBIUM. 
Class XX. GYNANDRIA.— Order I. MONANDRIA. 
Natural Order, ORCHIDE^E. — THE ORCHIS TRIBE. 
For a description of this rare plant we are indebted to Dr. Wallich, by whom it was brought from India in 
1828. “ This fine species,” says that gentleman, “is a native of most of the mountains in Nepaul, where it 
blossoms during the rainy season. It thrives well at the Honourable East India Company’s Botanic 
Garden at Calcutta, into which it has been introduced from these countries.” 
It grows pretty well in decayed vegetable mould, among moss, in the stove. 
An epiphyte, usually hanging down. Root formed of many cylindrical, fleshy, fasciculated fibres ; 
stems numerous, slender, furrowed, flexuose, six inches, a foot, or even two feet long, covered with copious, 
chaff-like, dark, decumbent, separable hairs, but becoming nearly smooth when old ; leaves alternate, spread- 
ing bifariously, thrice as long as the intervals, linear-lanceolate, tapering outwards, very obliquely 2-toothed 
at the apex, the teeth narrow, obtuse, unequal ; at the base rather acute, sessile, with very short sheaths, 
three or four inches long, smooth, obsoletely 3-nerved, striated, nearly flat ; flowers large, whitish, two inches 
long, scentless, smooth, terminal, or sometimes lateral, on leafless stems, placed on a fleshy, cylindrical, 
hairy peduncle, measuring, with the oblong clavate ovarium, about two inches ; bracteae 2, lanceolate, acute, 
keeled, rather hairy, half a nail long, at the base of the peduncle ; sepals erect, spreading, lanceolate, acute, 
somewhat keeled ; the lateral ones adnate to the column, very much dilated downwards, and, together with 
the elongated base of the column, produced into a long, funnel-shaped spur ; petals shaped like the sepals, 
somewhat conniving under the upper one; labellum large, funnel-shaped, straight, with a short, ovate, blunt 
lamina, fringed, with a papillose glandular disk, and a few yellow lines on it. 
The Orchidaceee are more prized for their beauty and the strangeness of their flowers, than for any very 
important dietetic or medicinal properties they possess. When the doctrine of signatures prevailed, their 
geminate roots were supposed to be powerful aphrodisiacs, and hence the names Orchis, Satyrium, Serapias, 
&c. have been given to various genera ; but it is probable that no quantity would induce that kind of mad- 
ness which characterised the Roman demigods, or the devotees of the more profligate Egyptian divinity. 
The tubers of these plants contain a great deal of very nutritious farinaceous matter, consisting, accord- 
ing to modern chemical analysis, of a proximate principle called Bassorine. This substance is known com- 
monly as saloop, or salep ; a word derived from the Persian name of the Orchis, which, according to Forsk- 
hall, is Sahleb. It used to be sold at the corners of the streets in London, and was a favourite drink with 
porters, coalheavers, and other hardworking people ; and it is still highly esteemed both in Turkey and in 
Persia. It is said to contain more nutritious matter in proportion to its bulk than any other known sub- 
stance, and that an ounce a-day will be sufficient to sustain a man : hence it is a favourite food, from its 
portability, with pedestrian travellers in wild deserts and uninhabited countries. 
Some of the South American species, such as the Cataseta and Cyrtipodia, contain a viscid substance, 
which, when separated by boiling and inspissated, is used by the Brazilians instead of glue. The root of 
Bletia verecunda is said to be stomachic, and Orchis abortiva and others slightly astringent. 
Vanilla is the produce of the V. aromatica , the old Epidendrum Vanilla. This plant is a climbing 
epiphyte, growing in the West Indies, and its root is used for flavouring chocolate, and also for perfuming 
snuff. 
