io6 
state. This is probably due to the deficiency of light in the dull 
English climate. The same deficiency of the depth of the rich brown 
purples of many of our flowers is noticeable in other figures of plants 
drawn from specimens from our gardens here, especially Bulbophyllum 
macrantkum Fig, 7208 which is much lighter in colour than usual 
and Zinziber spectabile , Plate 7967, of which the lip is given with 
distinctly red wings instead of black as is usual. The fine purple 
grass. Pennisetwn macrostachyum from New Guinea, which is so noble 
an ornament to our gardens with its rich deep purple leaves like 
those of a dark red Dracaena, in England, only appears of a dirty 
brownish pink green colour, doubtless from want of our brilliant 
sunshine. 
Dendrobium spectabile. 
This curious and beautiful orchid originally described as Latouria 
spectabilis, Blume flowered this year in January in the plant house of 
the Botanic Gardens. The plants were received from the Solomon 
islands. 
It seems to be widely spread over New Guinea and the Pacific 
islands and has been flowered in Europe, and is figured in the 
Botanical Magazine, Plate 7741, and also in Blumes Rumphia. In 
these and all other figures of it the flowers are different in colouring 
from the two plants now in flower in the Gardens plant house, 
though in structure the flowers seem identical. The long twisting 
sepals and petals are olive yellow, faintly streaked with brownish red. 
The lip in the other figures is red at the base and yellow at the tip 
covered with reticulations of a violet colour with a central violet bar. 
In the Singapore plants the whole lip is closely reticulated with a 
deep purple black on a white ground giving it a very distinct 
«. appearance. Mr. Micholitz who has seen this plant commonly in 
flower in the Polynesian islands and New Guinea has never seen a 
plant resembling it, even in Solomon islands whence these plants were 
received. Both plants are exactly similar, and though perhaps not as 
pretty as the commoner form, are very quaint and striking. 
Hosea Lobbiana, Ridl. 
This beautiful climber has been usually brilliant this year and 
has attracted much attention. It is a native of Kuching in Sarawak 
where it grows in swamps in full sun climbing over the bushes and 
trees. The stem is stout and woody, and the leaves deep shining 
green, toward the end of the branches some of the leaves show red 
blotches or spots, or a leaf may be half red. The terminal leaves 
on a flowering spray are produced entirely of a light bright orange 
red, generally four to six pairs. The flowers in a lax spreading panicle 
are salmon red, with long dark crimson skamens. The brilliant leaves 
are the attractive part of this charming plant but the elegant though 
less brilliant flowers add to its beauty. The fruit is dark purple 
brown and sausage shaped about three inches long, pointed at both 
