PL. 103. DENDROBIUM DRACONIS.
DENDROBIUM DRACONIS.
[[Plate 103].]
Native of Moulmein, Siam, and Cochin China.
Epiphytal. Stems robust, jointed, the internodes nearly covered by the sheathing base of the leaves, striate, nigro-hirsute, about a foot in height. Leaves leathery, dark green, oblong-lanceolate, about three inches long, obliquely notched at the apex. Flowers in short three to five-flowered racemes, terminal or borne in the axils of the upper leaves, conspicuous from their fine ivory-white colour and distinct eye; sepals lanceolate, acute, entire, spreading, the dorsal one erect; petals also pure white, broader, ovate-lanceolate, spreading, the tips often recurved; lip three-lobed, the lateral lobes short, roundish-ovate, white, pencilled with cinnabar-red, the middle lobe three times longer, elongate-oblong, apiculate, the veins thickened, the margins crenulate and undulated, the disk minutely downy, and like the lateral lobes marked with a tuft of longitudinal cinnabar-red lines; spur funnel-shaped, horizontal, about equalling the sepals. Column short, greenish.
Dendrobium Draconis, Reichenbach fil., Botanische Zeitung, 1862, 214; Id., Gardeners’ Chronicle, N.S., xix., 598.
Dendrobium eburneum, Parish MS.; Bateman, in Botanical Magazine, t. 5459; Id., Second Century of Orchidaceous Plants, t. 166; André, Revue Horticole, 1883, 132, with coloured plate.
Some confusion in reference to the name of this handsome Dendrobe has arisen in gardens where it has for about twenty years been known as Dendrobium eburneum. This name, a MS. one of the Rev. C. P. S. Parish, was attached to it in the Botanical Magazine for 1864, and by mistake attributed to Professor Reichenbach, who had published the name D. Draconis for the same plant in the Botanische Zeitung for 1862. The name Draconis, of course, takes precedence.
The plant which we now introduce to our readers under its correct name, is a most beautiful Indian Dendrobe, one which is quite distinct in growth, belonging to the nigro-hirsute group of which Dendrobium formosum is an example; it is, however, smaller, and a much better grower, and, in fact, more closely resembles D. infundibulum and D. Jamesianum, both in its habit and its flowers, which are produced very freely, as may be seen from the faithful representation of the plum and flowers which our artist has made. The drawing was taken from a specimen which bloomed in the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, one of a large importation we received last year as D. eburneum, the true name of which, on submitting flowers to Professor Reichenbach, we learned to be D. Draconis. We have subsequently bloomed others with much larger flowers. It will become a most valuable plant for decoration, as its blossoms last so long after being cut, and being white it will be always in request.
Dendrobium Draconis grows about a foot in height. It is an evergreen plant, with dark hairy stems, producing deep green foliage and short racemes of flowers. The sepals and petals are pure ivory-white, and the lip is also white, with a bright vermilion throat. It flowers in May, June, and July, and lasts about six weeks.
This plant does well in pans or pots suspended from the roof of the East India house, near the light, as like all the Dendrobes it requires all the light possible in order to ripen its stems, but the burning sun must be kept from it. We have grown it in the stove hanging under a plant of Stephanotis, where there is little shade from the foliage of the Stephanotis, and with this treatment it has bloomed very freely. The best potting material for it consists of rough fibrous peat and sphagnum moss, with a liberal supply of water at the roots in the growing season. When the growth is completed give just enough to keep the stems in a plump state. It will grow either in pots or baskets suspended from the roof, and also on blocks of wood with live sphagnum moss about the roots, but under the latter circumstances when in vigorous growth the plants will require more water and attention.
Orchids at Sandringham, the residence of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.—A short time since we paid a visit to Mr. Penny to see the Orchids at Sandringham, and were much struck with the many fine specimens we saw in bloom, the mass of flowers on some of them, and the colour and size of the blossoms; they gave one the idea of being well cared for. Mr. Penny is quite an enthusiast among good plants, and appears to have selected some most beautiful species and varieties of the Orchid family, especially among the forms of Odontoglossum Alexandræ and O. Pescatorei, the fine drooping spikes of which are cut and sent to the Princess, who is a great admirer of them as decorations, intermixed with the bright Epidendrum vitellinum majus and Masdevallias, of which there is here also a well-grown set of plants. The Epidendrum vitellinum majus was conspicuous for its large spikes of bright orange-scarlet flowers; and we saw some splendid varieties of Masdevallia, with fine bright colours and large flowers. We noticed some well-grown plants of Odontoglossum vexillarium, with the flowers five inches across, and good in colour; Cattleya Mossiæ in good bloom, some of the flowers measuring eight inches across, of fine substance, shape, and colour; fine plants of C. Mendelii and C. gigas; some good plants of Lælia anceps, promising well for bloom in the autumn; and well-grown plants of L. anceps Dawsoni. This choice collection includes many other good Orchids grown for the purpose of cutting and used for decorating the mansion. The great aim of Mr. Penny is to grow those kinds that are most useful and lasting for that purpose. We quite fall in with him in this respect, as there are no flowers that are better adapted for decorative purposes than those Orchids which last long after being cut.—B. S. W.