82 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL, 
lip is of a dark rose or blood colour; towards the apex it be¬ 
comes paler, but not so light as the petals. Before the flowers 
expand many of them have the appearance as if they were de¬ 
formed, and as if they would not come to perfection, but when 
the flowers expand they become perfect in their form. 
The mode of treatment which I should recommend is, to place 
the plant in a basket composed of oak billets, at the bottom of 
the basket a few large potsherds should be placed crossways, 
and a few should be placed upright in the basket, and over that 
should be placed sphagnum and a little turfy peat, so that the 
basket may be filled up two inches above the rim, and on that 
should be placed the plant, and more sphagnum should be placed 
around the root and neatly finished by having a few pegs placed 
in the moss so as to keep it firm, and from falling off; the basket 
then should be placed at the hottest end of the house, and the 
plant well watered all the growing season, so that the pseudo¬ 
bulbs may attain their full strength and length. After the plant 
has fully matured its pseudo-bulbs, it must then be placed at 
the coolest end of the house, and a very little water should be 
given to it until it begins to show for flower; then it ought to be 
sprinkled every other day until the flowers expand ; great care 
should then be taken not to wet the flower, as that would make 
them decay very rapidly; if the flowers are kept dry they will 
last for a month or six weeks in perfection. When the plant is 
grown strong, I have no doubt the shoots will attain the length 
of four or five feet, and as the flowers are produced on more 
than one half its length, we should then have from two to two 
and a half feet of raceme. This plant is a native of Manilla, 
and was introduced in 1836. There is no species that has 
flowered in this country that has flowers resembling this in colour; 
it is quite a novelty in dendrobium, as the prevailing colour is 
either yellow, orange, or white, with the exception of a very few 
species, which are either lilac and white or purple and white. 
Dendrobium is derived from dendron, a tree, and bio, to live, 
found growing on trees; the specific name, Macrophyllum, im¬ 
plies large leaved. In the Botanical Magazine it is called 
macranthum ; in allusion to the size of the flowers, macranthum 
is the most proper name, as it is the largest flowered species that 
we are acquainted with, but not the largest leaved. 
P, N. Don. 
