PL. CCLXXX. 
DENDROBIUM PHALAENOPSIS Fitzgerald. 
THE MOTH-LIKE DENDROBIUM. 
ETYMOLOGY : Jévâqov. a tree, and pioç, life, in allusion to their epiphytic habit. 
DENDROBIUM. Sepala membranacea, patentia vel erecta, lateralia obliqua cum pede columnae connata, 
mentum formantia. Petala sepalis saepe latiora, interdum angustiora et longiora. Labellum ad pede columnae sessile, 
integrum vel interdum triîobum, saepe ecallosum. Columna brevis, semiteres, basi in pede productum. Anthera bilocu- 
laris ; pollinia per paria collateralia. 
Herbae epiphyticae, caulescentes vel rhizomate repente, pseudobulbiferae, foliis distichis, floribus fasciculatis 
vel racemosis, saepius majusculis speciosis. 
Species notae circa 300, per regionem Indo-Australianam late dispersae, a Zeylania et India borealis usque 
ad Japoniam, Novam Zelandiam et insulas maris Pacifici australis extensae. 
Dendrobium , Sw., in Kongl. Vet. Acad. Stockh., XXI (1800), p. 244. — Benth. et Hook. F. Gen. Plant., 
III, p. 498. 
Dendrobium Phalaenopsis. Caulibus elongatis fasciculatis subcylindraceis sulcatis vaginis appressis pallidis tectis, 
foliis lanceolatis acuminatis luride viridibus, racemis axillaribus pedalis laxe 6-10 floris, sepalis ovato-lanceolatis 
acuminatis pallidis nervis reticulatis, petalis sepalis multo majoribus patentibus rhombeo-rotundatis acutis basi contractis 
roseis venosis, labelli sanguineo-purpurei, lobis lateralibus rotundatis incurvis, intermedio lingueformi oblongo apicu- 
lato, basin versus 5-7 carinato, carinis rugulosis, calcare recto obtuso, basi inferne in sacculum subhemisphaericum 
dilatato, columna brevi ima basi bicallosa. 
Dendrobium Phalaenopsis Fitzgerald, in Gard. Chron., 1880, pars 2, p. 38. — Id., Austral. Orch., vol. I, 
pars 7, t. 5. — Bot. Mag., t. 6817. — Warn. et Will., Orchid Album, IV, t. 187. — Gard. Chron., 1886, 
pars 2, p. 556, fig. 110. — Veitch Man. Orch. PI., pars 3, p. 68, cum fig. 
D. Phalaenopsis var. Statterianum Sander, in Reichenbachia, ser. 2, vol. I, p. 15, t. 7. 
his magnificent species was originally discovered by Captain Broomfield, 
of Balmain, near Cooktown, in North Queensland, and flowered in that 
gentleman’s greenhouse during April 1880, in which year it was des- 
cribed by Fitzgerald, in the pages of the Gardeners ’ Chronicle. It was afterwards 
figured in the same author’s Australian Orchids , the plant being recorded to hâve 
produced as many as 300 flowers. It must hâve been a splendid sight. Since 
then it has been found in some small islands of New Guinea, in Torres Straits, 
and even in the island of Timor, so that the species appears to be somewhat 
widely diffused. The plant figured in the Botanical Magazine was sent by 
Mr. H. O. Forbes, from Timor laut, and there are also dried specimens from the 
same locality in the Kew Herbarium, collected by Riedel. In each case the 
plants were found growing in the neighbourhood of the sea-coast, from which 
we may infer that, like the species of Phalaenopsis, plenty of heat and moisture 
are essential for its successful cultivation. 
It should be grown in baskets of rough fibrous peat and sphagnum moss, 
and suspended near the glass in the warm house, receiving as much light 
