DENDROBIUM LEOPARDINl'M 
39 
I hope their structure will be rendered intelligible. I have not been able to assigu it 
with any certainty to any known genus ; even the division ot the natural family to 
w hich it belongs, is a question of doubt with me. Under these circumstances, 1 have 
ventured to constitute it into a new genus, coming nearest to Gooilyera , and, as lar as 
my observation goes, limited to one single species. 
The difficulty which Rumphius experienced in transferring the wild plant into 
his garden, has been abundantly felt by me ; and it was only alter many fruit¬ 
less attempts that I at length succeeded in inducing it to survive a couple of years 
in the Calcutta botanic garden, by planting it on a raised bed, in a rich soil, contain¬ 
ing a good quantity of pebbles. It is proliferous from the axils of the fallen leaves 
at the base of the stem, to which it dies down as the hot weather sets in : new 
shoots issue forth at the commencement of the rains, in June. I cannot imagine 
an horticultural object more worthy of accomplishment, than the introduction of this ele¬ 
gant little plant into the gardens of Europe ; but although I have in former years 
repeatedly sent growing plants home, I have reason to fear, that they have all perished 
during the voyage. 
The plant might with propriety be called Chrysobophus Petola; Daun Petola 
being, according to the above quoted author’s testimony, the name, by which the 
Malays designate it, from a fancied similarity of its painted leaf to a dress so called. 
But having expressed the allusion in the generic name, I wish to dedicate the plant to 
the memory of my late friend and predecessor, as a token of my respect for that truly 
great and good man, who had expressed himself so highly delighted with its beautiful 
foliage, shortly before quitting his beloved garden for ever. 
The upper surface of the leaves is soft like velvet, of a peculiarly bright green color, 
and elegantly reticulated with nerves and veins of a perfectly golden color and lustre; 
underneath they are purplish, w ith green ramifications. The flower is placed vertically 
on the incurved apex of the ovary, the vaulted perianthium forming its inferior and inner 
part, as soon as expansion takes place ; while the lip occupies the upper and outer part. 
The body of the latter is horizontal; its anterior part is concealed within the leaves of 
the perianth; the exterior extremity is free and slightly calearate ; it is hollow, form¬ 
ing a short tube, which receives part of the column through a central slit underneath ; 
its cavity is smooth, and subdivided by two lateral callous tubercles, which almost meet 
each other at their obtuse ends. The lamina ascends in a slightly recurved direc¬ 
tion, and is vertically two-lobed, with a ciliated da\v. 
DENDROBIUM LEOPARDINUM, Wall. TAB. 28. 
Arborum parasitic urn, laeve,bulbis pluribus, seriatis, oblongis,basi fioriferis, vertice 
monophyllis ; foliis coriaceis, rigidis, oblongis, obtusis, petiolatis ; floribus fasciculatis, 
pedunculatis, globoso-carnpanulatis ; processus gynostemii apice adscendente, liberfi. 
Legi in monte Chandaghiry, super arborum truncos parasiticum, Horens Juuio. 
liulbi plurimi, aggregate, iu seriem elongatam approximate alternantes, carnosi, uti 
tota planta laeves, ovato-oblongi, leviter complanati, sesqui- ad bipollicares, monophylli, 
squamis interspersi et involuti aridis, magnis, ipsos quandoque superantibus, reticulatis, 
aetate retiformibus ; radiculos e basi emittentes longas, simplices, tibrosas. Folium 
unicum ex apice bulbi, erectum, coriaceum, crassum et rigidum, oblongum, obtusum, 
nunc denticulis binis, obsoletis terminatum, basi acutum, quinque- ad septempollicare, 
supra atro-viride, striatum, juxta medium canaliculatum ; subtus pallidum, costii elevatd 
carinatft; petiolo sulliiltum bipollicari, rigido, canaliculato, basi subarticulatA parum di- 
latata, quandoque squama bulbi involute Flores (fig. 1.) magni, inodori, globoso-cam- 
paiudati, basi lata hinc productiore, calcar breve, obtusissimum aemulante, nutantes, 
pedunculati, tres quatuorve lasciculati e basi vel latere bulbi, nuncduplo numerosiores 
