Dendrobium gibsonii Paxt.

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘D. fuscatum was first known from specimens collected by myself in the hot valleys of the Sikkim Himalaya and the Khasia Mountains in 1848-1850, where it is far from uncommon.  A fine drawing of it (by a native artist) exists in the Cathcart collection of Himalayan plants at Kew, and represents many racemes from one stem, one of which has fifteen flowers, all of a much deeper orange, almost orange-brown, colour than in our figure.  The specimen here figured flowered in the garden of F. Currey, Esq., F.R.S., Sec. L.S., in April, 1864, and was imported, I believe, from the Khasia Mountains.’  [BM t.6226/1876, described by J.D. Hooker].  

Dendrobium fuscatum is now recognised as a form of the previously described Dendrobium gibsonii.  MB p.169/1838.  Introduced to Britain in 1827.  [JD].

History at Camden Park

The only reference to this plant is a hand written entry in a copy of the 1850 catalogue held at the Mitchell Library [ML 635.9m].  This copy bears William Macarthur’s signature and the date 23rd Dec. 1854.  It did not appear in the printed 1857 edition but was certainly grown in the gardens at this time.

Notes