Dendrobium. | ORCHIDACEAE. 333 
1. DENDROBIUM Swartz. 1799. “heer ee 
Epiphytes. Stems long and branching, or short and simple and finck PNG, 
sometimes reduced to pseudobulbs. Leaves coriaceous: or fleshy, never @ewee. 
plaited. Flowers often large and handsome, rarely small. Sepals nearly 
equal, the lateral ones dilated at the base, and obliquely adnate to the 
foot of the column, forming a short spur or pouch. Petals about as long 
as the upper sepal. Lip contracted at the base and adnate to the produced 
foot of the column, rarely clawed, usually 3-lobed ; lateral lobes embracing 
the column or spreading; middle lobe broad or narrow, spreading or 
recurved; disc often lamellate. Column short, produced at the base, 
winged or angled or toothed at the top. Anther terminal, lid-like, 2-celled ; 
pollinia 4, free, compressed, in collateral pairs in each cell. 
A large genus of probably 600 species, most abundant in the Malay Archipelago, but 
extending as far north as Japan, and southwards through Australia and Polynesia to 
New Zealand. The single species found in New Zealand is endemic, but is closely allied 
to the Polynesian D. biflorum Swartz. 
1. D. Cunninghamii Lindl. Bot. Reg. sub. t. 1756.—Stems usually 
much branched, slender, rigid, wiry, terete, polished, 1-4 ft. long; usually 
pendulous, but small specimens growing on rocks or in exposed places are 
often erect. Leaves numerous, distichous, alternate, #-2 in. long, $-¢ in. 
broad, linear-lanceloate, acute, rigid and coriaceous, striate and more or 
less conspicuously 3-nerved; sheaths truncate, grooved and transversely 
corrugated. Peduncles shorter or longer than the leaves, usually 1-3- 
flowered, rarely 3-6-flowered ; pedicels slender; bracts short. Flowers 
3 in. diam., white and pink. Upper sepal oblong-lanceolate, acute ; lateral 
rather larger, broader at the base. Petals about equalling the sepals, 
oblong, obtuse. Lip attached by a short claw to the foot of the column, 
3-lobed ; lateral lobes small, ascending; middle lobe spreading, large, 
almost as broad as long; margins undulate ; disc with 4 or 5 thin lamellae. 
Capsule oblong, 4 in. long—A. Cunn. Precur, (1836) n. 316; Raoul Choix 
(1846) 41; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 240; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 
262: Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 663. D. biflorum A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. 
Zel. (1832) 167, t. 26 (not of Swartz). D. Lessonii Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv 
(1883) 326. 
Norru anp Sout Isnanps, Stewart IstAnD: Lowland districts from the North 
Cape southwards, not uncommon in forests. Sea-level to 2000 ft. December- 
February. 
For some notes on the fertilization, see a paper by Mr. G. M. Thomson in Trans. 
N.Z. Inst. xi (1879) 419. I cannot separate Mr. Colenso’s D. Lessont: from the ordinary 
state of the plant, even as a variety. : 
2. BULBOPHYLLUM Thouars. |B AQ_ Heer. 02. 
Epiphytes. Rhizome creeping, often matted, usually more or Hayek ck 
clothed with scarious sheathing scales. Pseudobulbs sessile in the axils ~ ~. 
of the scales, each crowned with 1 or rarely 2 leaves. Flowers small or 
large, solitary, spiked or racemed on a peduncle arising from the base of 
the pseudobulbs. Sepals nearly equal, the lateral ones adnate to the foot 
of the column. Petals usually smaller than the sepals. Lip contracted at 
the base and jointed on to the produced foot of the column, usually small 
and recurved, generally mobile. Column short, erect, produced at the base, 
often 2-aristate at the top. Anther terminal, lid-like, 2-celled ; pollinia 4 
(rarely 2), free, in pairs in each cell. 
