The Orchid Album, Volume 2 / Comprising Coloured Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, and Beautiful Orchidaceous Plants

CATTLEYA DOWIANA AUREA.
[Plate 84.]
Native of Colombia.

Epiphytal. Stems stout, clavate, furrowed, eight to ten inches high, monophyllous. Leaves evergreen, broadly oblong, obtuse, coriaceous, nearly a foot long. Scape terminal, about four-flowered, emerging from a compressed bluntish leafy spathe. Flowers very large, about six inches across and seven inches deep, with a superbly-coloured lip; sepals linear-lanceolate, plane, recurved at the tip, four inches long and about three-fourths of an inch wide, the dorsal one somewhat shorter and broader, all pale or primrose-yellow; petals ovate, apiculate, about three inches long and two and a half inches broad, of the same colour as the sepals; lip obcordate, very large, four inches long and nearly three inches wide, obscurely three-lobed: lateral lobes erect, and meeting over the column, purple-crimson, closely veined with deep golden-yellow: front lobe very large, deeply emarginate, with the edge undulated, closely and finely crisped, rich velvety purple-crimson throughout, with about three golden lines down the centre, extending to within about one-third of the apex, from the outer of which branch off curving towards the margin a close series of golden reticulations, the sides being also marked by irregular blotches of gold. Column pale yellow, clavate, curved down, and almost covered by the lateral lobes of the lip.

Cattleya Dowiana aurea, supra.

Cattleya aurea, Linden, Catalogue (1872); Id. L’Illustration Horticole, 1881, 80.

The species of Cattleya are great favourites with all growers of the gorgeous race of Orchids. It is no less gratifying than surprising to see the many new forms that are being brought home by our energetic collectors, and great praise is due to them for their indefatigable exertions in this matter. There is no doubt that the Cattleyas rank amongst the richest-coloured of the genera of Orchids, and many of them even when not in blossom, if well grown, form attractive specimens, their foliage being of a beautiful dark green and their growth compact.

The plant we now illustrate is one of the most distinct and beautiful of the family. Our drawing was taken from a fine specimen in the grand collection of R. P. Percival, Esq., Clevelands, Birkdale, Southport, who has one of the largest and best grown collections of Cattleyas to be found; many of his plants have been imported within the last few years, and are wonderfully well grown, as, indeed, will appear when the number of flower sheaths showing on the different specimens is stated; thus, of Cattleya Mendelii there are 80, of C. Mossiæ 250, of C. Trianæ 369, and many others. We may add that a lesson may be learnt from Mr. Percival and his gardener respecting the growth of the Cattleyas. No doubt Southport has great advantages over some other districts as regards purity of atmosphere and abundance of light and fresh air, but there are many persons having houses of the same kind, and a position equally advantageous, who would not obtain the same results. The rule we always lay down for the cultivation of these plants is to secure for them all the bright light possible. The only way to be successful in growing them is to give them plenty of light, air, and moisture in their growing season; and even in their resting season they require all the available light. There is no doubt that the main reason why these plants are grown so well is that Mr. Percival perseveres in getting to know the wants of the various species, many of which require treatment differing from their fellows, some, for example, liking more moisture than others, while others require more heat. All this may be learned by studying the altitudes to which the plants ascend in their native country—information which is to be obtained partly by reading, and partly from collectors and growers. There are many other Orchids grown in the collection besides Cattleyas, and Mr. Percival is building separate houses for the different classes—houses constructed of good size, and so that they afford plenty of air and light. Small houses suit Odontoglots, but Cattleyas require more room.

Cattleya Dowiana aurea is an evergreen plant, with clavate stems about eight inches in height, bearing broad dark green foliage, it being after the style of C. gigas in its growth. It comes from a different country from C. Dowiana, which is a Costa Rica species, but is so much like it that we cannot separate the two, the chief difference being in the colour of the flowers, which in the variety aurea is of a lighter yellow than in the type. There is a wonderfully fine illustration of C. Dowiana in Warner’s Select Orchidaceous Plants, series 2, t. 27, which was taken from one of the finest plants of that species which we have yet seen. In C. Dowiana aurea the sepals and petals are of a primrose-yellow, while the broad lip is of a fine magenta, richly veined and blotched with golden-yellow. It is altogether a charming flower, blooming during the summer and autumn, according as it makes its growth, the flowers being produced before the growth is completed. They last three weeks or more in beauty if they are kept free from damp; if, therefore, they are placed in a dry warm house they will keep fresh until the last, for it is dampness which is the cause why these and other Orchid flowers often become spotted with decay. It is better to have a flowering house for those plants which are in blossom.

We find this variety requires the heat of the Cattleya house, and should be grown close to the light, being planted in good fibrous peat, with abundant drainage, so that a good supply of moisture at the roots may be given without risk during the growing season. When the plants are at rest a more limited supply will suffice. The plants should be suspended from the roof of the Orchid house.

ODONTOGLOSSUM HEBRAICUM LINEOLIGERUM.
[Plate 85.]
Native of New Grenada.

Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs elongate-ovate, compressed, upwards of two inches in height, pale green, brownish in age. Leaves, one or two springing from the apex of the pseudobulb, and frequently with a smaller one from its base, ligulate-oblong acute, nine inches to a foot in length, bright green. Scape supporting a dense elongated raceme of elegant flowers, radical, that is springing from the base of the pseudobulb. Flowers large, upwards of three inches in breadth and depth, the ground colour at first yellow, afterwards changing to creamy white, and freely spotted with purplish crimson; sepals lanceolate, attenuately acuminated, pale yellow, marked thickly on the lower half with deep purplish crimson, in bars and elongated blotches, which are sometimes confluent, the edges slightly wavy; petals similar in size, form, colour, and marking; lip elongate-triangular, or narrowing from a broad base to the acuminate apex, toothed and undulated at the margin, pale yellow, deeper at the base, where there are placed a pair of prominent divergent crests, very sparingly spotted with the same colour as the sepals. Column arcuate, club-shaped, with the wings toothed.

Odontoglossum hebraicum lineoligerum, Reichenbach fil., in Gardeners’ Chronicle, N.S., xix., 44.

This beautiful plant was first flowered by Charles Winn, Esq., of the Uplands, Selly Hill, near Birmingham, and was by him submitted to Professor Reichenbach, who gave it the name here adopted. It has also been flowered by Mr. Cypher, of Cheltenham, who has kindly forwarded one of its pseudobulbs for description, and from whom we learn that while on the imported bulbs two leaves were developed, the bulbs formed in this country have as yet only borne a single leaf. It is a very distinct variety, and will make a charming companion to the already famous Odontoglossum hebraicum, of which but few specimens have yet been introduced into our Orchid-houses. They will form welcome associates of the better forms of O. Alexandræ, which are among the most useful of all Orchids for decorative purposes, and of the best of which we hope to submit to our subscribers at some future time a series of authenticated figures. Among them are to be found some plants bearing pure white flowers, while in others the blossoms are beautifully spotted with crimson and reddish brown, or have the sepals and petals suffused with a delicate rose colour. Mr. Winn, in whose fine collection the plant now illustrated was bloomed, has a very choice lot of these cool Odontoglots, which are well cultivated by his gardener, Mr. Shields.

There is no doubt that under good treatment the Odontoglots requiring what is called cool treatment are among the most accommodating of Orchids for the amateur, as they take but little room and require but a small amount of heat. Moreover, they thrive well in the suburbs of our smoky cities and towns, such as Birmingham and Manchester, or even in the cities themselves, if a small well-appointed house can be provided for their accommodation; for as they will do well without much sun, the back of a north wall will suit them well, provided they get plenty of light and air, while the fire-heat required in growing them forms but a small item of expense. There are besides many cool orchids of other genera that may be grown in the same way, many of which may be purchased at a very small cost.

This interesting Odontoglossum is a compost-growing plant, like the type, and appears to be a free bloomer. The flowers, as we learn from Mr. Winn, open of a pale yellow, and are richly spotted and barred with purple-crimson, the lip also being pale yellow, and spotted, though in a less degree, with purple-crimson, but after about two days the ground colour changes to creamy white. They remain for a long time in a fresh state if kept from the damp. The plant requires the same treatment as Odontoglossum hebraicum and O. Alexandræ. We find rough fibrous peat, with good drainage, to suit them all well; a little broken charcoal and crocks mixed with the peat being of great benefit to them. It must be borne in mind that they must not be potted too firmly, as their roots differ from those of hard-wooded plants, which require that kind of potting. With these, on the other hand, the more porous the soil is kept the better, since they require a good deal of water about their roots at most times of the year, and it then passes away more freely. Another important item in their treatment is to raise the plant one or two inches above the rim of the pot. A little sphagnum moss placed on the top of the peat is beneficial to them, if it can be kept in a growing condition, as it maintains a nice moisture about the plant. If the moss should become decayed it must be removed, and some fresh living sphagnum applied. The plants will grow without the moss, but we prefer to use it. Avoid overpotting, which is often detrimental to them, for they do not require too much of the potting material about them; the pot should, in fact, be just large enough to hold the plant, and to admit a small quantity of the material being placed around it. A temperature of 45° to 50° in winter, and from 50° to 65° in summer, suits the Odontoglots of the Alexandræ section. In summer, indeed, they can scarcely be kept too cool.

CYPRIPEDIUM PARISHII.
[Plate 86.]
Native of Moulmein.

Epiphytal. Stem short, erect, leafy. Leaves coriaceous, loriform, eight to ten inches long, and two inches broad, channelled and equitant at the base, obliquely obtuse and bifid at the apex, distichous, deep full green. Scape stout, erect, densely hairy, green, two feet long or upwards, five to six-flowered, each flower issuing from a semi-amplexicaul boat-shaped green, ovate, acute, glabrous bract, ciliated at the tip, the lower ones larger. Flowers singular in their conformation, not brilliant in colour, but pleasing in character, and long enduring; dorsal sepal one and a half inch long, erect, ovate-oblong acute, somewhat keeled, the sides revolute near the base, giving it the appearance of being clawed, the tip somewhat recurved, greenish straw-colour tinged with purple; lateral sepals connate, greener, the back marked with two distinct green keels meeting at the point; petals narrowly strap-shaped, widest below, and thence tapering to the point, four inches long, whitish green at the base, with scattered black spots, and a purple edge, which widens upwards till about half the length, when they become wholly of a glossy purple on both sides, twisted, the margin having here and there a black hairy wart; lip one and a half inch long, the basal half narrowed from the infolding of the edges, deeply stained outside with purple, spotted with purple within, and furnished with purple hairs directed backwards, the pouch oblong, blunt, with an expanded mouth, and two erect ear-like angles projecting upwards and outwards, pale green, freely stained with purple. Staminode large, depressed, obovate bifid, with a blunt spur near the base, green, whitish at the edge, hairy.

Cypripedium Parishii, Reichenbach fil., in Flora, 1869, 322; Id. in Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1869, 814, with a woodcut; Hooker fil., Botanical Magazine, t. 5791; Williams, Orchid Grower’s Manual, 5 ed., 156.

The genus Cypripedium is now an extensive family of Orchids in which many new species and varieties are constantly appearing, some of them importations, but many of them the results of the well-applied skill of the hybridiser, through whose agency some really good and interesting additions to the older kinds have been, and are being made. It forms a most useful group of Orchids, most of them being of easy cultivation, and the flowers lasting a long time if due care is taken of them. Some Orchid growers discard them because of the stiff and formal outlines of their flowers. That character certainly does not apply to the Moulmein species we now introduce to our readers, as it is of a singularly graceful appearance, as may be seen from our sketch. The illustration was taken from a fine spike that was forwarded to us by A. Paul, Esq., Gilmore Place, Edinburgh, a gentleman who has a very good collection, and is one of those amateurs who are fond of, and takes a personal interest in their plants. Mr. Paul has exhibited some well-grown specimens at the Edinburgh shows during the past few years, and has taken some of the highest honours.

Cypripedium Parishii was discovered and introduced by the Rev. C. Parish, after whom Professor Reichenbach has named it; most of the plants originally collected, with many other Orchidic rarities, being, it would appear, destroyed by the unruly elephants, who threw off their loads, and trampled them under foot. It is an evergreen herbaceous plant, of good habit, with deep green foliage, about a foot in length. The flower-spike proceeds from the centre of the young growths when nearly completed, and bears several flowers, sometimes as many as six, the sepals being broad and greenish like the lip, and the petals long, undulated, greenish white at the base, the upper portion deep purple, and the margin furnished with hairy warts. It blooms during the summer and autumn months, according as the completion of its growth may take place earlier or later in the season; and the blossoms last for several weeks in perfection.

The plant thrives when grown in the East India house. We have also found it to do well at the warmest end of the Cattleya house. It does best when grown in a pot, with good fibrous peat or good loam, mixed with lumps of charcoal, and with thorough drainage. It requires a liberal supply of water during the growing season, and when at rest should not be kept dry, since it has no thick fleshy bulbs to support the foliage, and, moreover, it is nearly always growing.

This species may be propagated by dividing the plant after it has started into growth, leaving one old-established crown at the back of the young growth; place the divided parts in small pots until they are established, and then remove them into larger ones as they require it, but avoid overpotting them.

VANDA TRICOLOR PLANILABRIS.
[Plate 87.]
Native of Java.

Epiphytal. Stem erect, leafy, as in the type. Leaves distichous, ligulate, oblique at the apex, of a very dark green colour. Scapes lateral, erect, green, bearing a dense raceme of eight to twelve flowers, of which the pedicels are white. Flowers very stout in texture, and beautifully coloured, white exteriorly; sepals leathery, roundish-obovate, clawed or cuneately narrowed at the base, citron-yellow, with crowded reddish-brown spots, longitudinally arranged, especially in the median parts, more irregular but with the longitudinal tendency near the margin; petals of similar form and substance, rather narrower at the base, marked with linear blotches on the claw-like portion, and with rounder and more spot-like markings on the broader surface; lip contracted in the middle, having two short white rounded lateral lobes at the base, and a large oblong front lobe, with projecting auricles above the purple-striped claw, flat, with the broader and bluntly rounded apex emarginate, the basal portion deep magenta-purple, the upper portion beyond the contraction a paler tint of the same, and the disk marked with five white lines, of which the central one is longer, and extends half-way to the emarginate apex. Column thick, white.

Vanda tricolor planilabris, Lindley, Paxton’s Flower Garden, ii., t. 42, in note; Id. Folia Orchidacea, art. Vanda, No. 10.

This species is one of the most beautiful of the Vandas, and comprises many varieties which differ much both in form and colour—sufficiently so, we think, to justify the adoption of distinctive names; but the botanists tell us that we must take them as varieties of Vanda tricolor, and distinguish them from each other as best we may. That which we are now about to figure and describe, is very distinct in the form of its flowers, as well as in colour, from the typical V. tricolor, represented at Plate 77. The plant from which our drawing was taken is a very fine specimen in the collection of Joseph Broome, Esq., Woodlawn, Didsbury, near Manchester, who is not only a great lover of plants, but also one who does much for the general advancement of the interests of horticulture.

Vanda tricolor planilabris is a plant having a stately habit of growth; it is furnished with dark green foliage, and produces its flower-spikes on each side of the plant, from the axils of the two-ranked leaves, at different times of the year, usually bearing from seven to ten flowers on a spike. The sepals and petals are yellow, thickly marked with rich brown spots; the lip is rose colour, margined with purplish mauve, and striped with chocolate-brown. It continues for at least six weeks in perfection.

The plant requires the same treatment as that recommended for the allied plants under Plate 77, where a full account of these Vandas will be found.

Odontoglossum lyroglossum.—We received a fine spike of flowers of this rare Odontoglossum from E. Harvey, Esq., Aigburth, Liverpool, accompanied by a drawing of the same from the pencil of Miss Harvey—which latter we have returned, and for the use of which we beg to tender her our best thanks. It is a very pretty and interesting species. The spike bore eight blossoms, of which the sepals and petals were of a pale yellow, spotted with chestnut-brown, and the lip also yellow, with large brown spots in the centre.

We had the opportunity of seeing Mr. Harvey’s collection of Orchids when at Liverpool in December last, when we found many of them in bloom, and among them some rare species, as well as good varieties of Cattleyas, Dendrobes, Lælias, and other genera. There was besides a fine assortment of Odontoglossums, some of which—good ones—were in blossom, and many others were showing flower-spikes. They were in excellent health, and made a nice display. In addition to the Orchids we found there a grand collection of Hardy Alpine Plants, which are well cared for, and in the spring and summer months must form a very interesting feature of the garden.—B. S. W.

Phalænopsis Mariæ, Burbidge Plate 80.—We have been requested by Professor Reichenbach to mention that there exists some misapprehension as to the above quoted name, which was not given by him, as stated in the text which accompanies Plate 80, but was used by Mr. Burbidge, who dedicated the plant to his wife on the very spot where he found it, in a little Sondaic island. “I have, indeed,” he adds, “accepted the name, but of course left the publication to the author; had I named the plant, I would have published it in the Gardeners’ Chronicle. It is painful to me to write thus, but to justify myself I must do so; for now-a-days one is frequently worried with prescriptions how some unknown plant must be named provided it be new, and I have always declined to name plants in honour of ladies whom I have never seen, and who do not, so far as I know, stand in any special relation to plants.”

CATTLEYA LABIATA.
[Plate 88.]
Native of Brazil.

Epiphytal. Stems (pseudobulbs) short, club-shaped, furrowed when old, invested by greyish membraneous sheaths, one-leaved. Leaves coriaceous, oblong obtuse, of a dark green. Scape issuing from an elongate oblong compressed double sheath, of a paler green than the leaves. Flowers two to five—usually about three—on each spike, large though not equalling in size many of the forms of C. Mossiæ, the lip very richly coloured; sepals lanceolate, acute, plane and entire at the margin, recurved at the apex, of a very pale delicate tint of rosy blush; petals of the same colour, but three times as broad, ovate, bluntish at the apex, the margin undulated; lip obovate, with the two sides connivent over the column, of the same delicate blush tint as the sepals and petals, the front part beyond the tubulose portion expanded (about two inches broad and long), rounded, deeply emarginate, almost wholly of a very rich lustrous deep magenta-purple, a broad bar of which is continued towards the base down the centre of the tube, and on each side of this bar at the mouth of the tube is a roundish-oblong patch of creamy yellow, which becomes paler as it spreads towards the edge; the margin neatly and densely frilled, and having at the extreme edge a narrow border of pale rosy blush, which is continued around the whole of the richly-coloured front lobe. Column clavate, semi-terete, shorter than the tube.

Cattleya labiata, Lindley, Collectanea Botanica t. 33; Id., Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants, 116; Id., Botanical Register, t. 1859; Id., Paxton’s Flower Garden, t. 24 (varieties); Hooker, Exotic Flora, t. 157; Id., Botanical Magazine, t. 3998; Loddiges, Botanical Cabinet, t. 1956; Paxton’s Magazine of Botany, iv., 121; Van Houtte, Flore des Serres, tt. 1893-4; Jennings’ Orchids, t. 45; Williams, Orchid Grower’s Manual, ed. 5, 122.

Epidendrum labiatum, Reichenbach fil., in Walpers’ Annales Botanices Systematicæ, vi., 313 (var. a. genuinum).

This fine species has been known in England since 1818, and Cattleya Loddigesii excepted (originally grown as Epidendrum violaceum), was the first Cattleya introduced and the type of the genus, which was named in compliment to W. Cattley, Esq., of Barnet. There are two or three varieties of the autumn-flowering C. labiata, the one having foliage of a light green, and the other of a darker green with the under side of the leaf also darker-coloured than in the first. It is the same in the case of C. (labiata) Warnerii, the sub-species named in honour of Mr. R. Warner, the two forms of which may be easily distinguished from the typical C. labiata, since they generally bloom in May and June. There are many wonderful sub-varieties of C. Warnerii, both as regards the colour of lip and the size of the flowers, and some of these have been sold by collectors as the true autumn-flowering C. labiata, though that is easily distinguished from C. Warnerii by those who really know the two plants.

We have been cultivating Orchids for nearly forty years, and have never known the original C. labiata to be imported during that period. It is this that makes it so scarce, and causes it to fetch the high prices that it does. Another reason is, that it blossoms when few Cattleyas are in flower, i.e., in October and November, and so every grower desires to possess it. We remember many years ago seeing plants of this species two feet in diameter in the collection of R. Hanbury, Esq., The Poles, near Ware. Mr. Hanbury had a wonderful specimen in his first collection, which went to Germany. Many other such plants were to be seen in those days; and it would appear that these plants have been divided, and distributed among growers. It is greatly to be regretted that our collectors do not again discover its habitat.

The specimen we now illustrate is from a well-grown plant in the fine collection of H. Gaskell, Esq., Woolton Wood, Woolton, Liverpool, where it bloomed with five very fine flowers on a spike. A most wonderful and lovely spike it was, and we regret not being able to depict it full size, in order to show off its beauty.

There is another variety of C. labiata that blooms in August, and is very distinct from the old variety referred to above both in the colour of its flowers and its foliage; it is called C. labiata pallida. There are two very fine plants of this variety in the collection of the Comte de Germany, Chateau de Gouville, near Rouen, in France; each plant has over a hundred bulbs—a grand sight when in bloom.

Cattleya labiata is an evergreen plant, and is also one of the most free-flowering Cattleyas we have in cultivation, since every good growth brings its blossoms, a strong one, producing a spike of five flowers from a double sheath. The individual flowers are of large size, the sepals and petals pale soft rosy-pink, the lip rich magenta, margined with light rosy-pink, and the sides of the throat orange-yellow; they last in their freshness and beauty for some three or four weeks. This species requires the same treatment as C. Mossiæ, that is, to be planted in good fibrous peat, and to have perfect drainage; it will grow either in a pot or in a basket, and requires a moderate supply of water during the growing season, which is in the spring and summer months. In winter, when the plants are at rest, they merely require sufficient moisture to keep the bulbs and leaves in a plump state; but it is very detrimental to Cattleyas to keep them too dry, as this often causes them to shrivel and turn yellow, and when this occurs it takes a long time to recover their healthy condition. We do not agree with over-watering or over-potting Cattleyas—both practices are extremely dangerous, especially the use of too much material about the roots, which becomes soddened by the necessary moisture, and causes the roots to decay. If the plants should fall into this misfortune, they should be completely shaken out of the material used, their roots well washed, and then be potted in crocks until they make fresh roots. They must be kept in a shady place during the continuance of this régime, and until they appear to have regained their vigour, after which they may be allowed all the light obtainable.

EULOPHIA GUINEENSIS PURPURATA.
[Plate 89.]
Native of West Tropical Africa.

Terrestrial. Pseudobulbs short, roundish-ovate, marked near the apex with one or two annulate scars, indicating the bases of former leaves. Leaves with an oblong-oblanceolate acuminate blade six inches long, narrowed below into a petiole of about half the length, somewhat plicate. Scape arising from the base of the pseudobulb, twelve to fifteen inches high, including the raceme of seven to ten flowers, furnished at intervals with pale brown sheathing bracts, which become smaller upwards. Flowers pedicellate, spurred, remarkable for their narrow dark sepals and petals and their broad highly-coloured lip; sepals about an inch long, linear acuminate, deep rosy purple, the lateral ones spreading horizontally; petals directed upwards between the erect dorsal and the spreading lateral sepals, and similar to them in size, form, and colour; lip three-lobed, the front lobe roundish-ovate pointed, about an inch and a quarter in length and in breadth, wavy at the margin, of a rich bright magenta, traversed by deep crimson flabellate veins, which become deep rosy purple as they converge towards the base when they suddenly stop, the extreme base being white; the side lobes are short and blunt, of a blush. Spur slender, deep purple, three-fourths of an inch long. Column bent forward, rosy purple, slightly keeled at the back.

Eulophia guineensis purpurata, Reichenbach fil., in Kotschy’s Plantæ Binderianæ Niloticæ Æthiopiceæ, 3; Kotschy, Plantæ Tinneanæ, 63.

Eulophia is a small genus of Orchids of which a few species are known in cultivation. The one we now describe is a most beautiful and distinct variety of a species which was cultivated many years since, and one that everyone may admire. Our drawing was taken from a specimen in the grand collection of Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., Burford Lodge, Dorking. It is a very rare plant, and is most difficult to import from its native habitats. It is also supposed to be difficult to establish, but it is so rare that few persons have had the opportunity to try it. Sir Trevor Lawrence manages to cultivate it very successfully, and we have also seen it well grown in the Collection of H. Shaw, Esq., of Buxton, who has also flowered it. We have heard of very few other plants, and, therefore, we should like to see a good importation of it, as many cultivators would, we are quite sure, be glad to possess such a gem.

Eulophia guineensis purpurata produces small oval-shaped pseudobulbs, and has light green plicate foliage, ten inches or a foot in height. The flower stem is produced from the base of the bulb with the young growths, and reaches to a height of eighteen inches, terminating in a spike of ten or more flowers. The sepals and petals are brownish purple, veined with a darker brown, and the lip is magenta-rose, veined with a darker magenta, the throat being white. It blooms in September and October.

Being a terrestrial Orchid it is best grown in a pot, with good fibrous loam, leaf soil, and sharp river sand; a little charcoal should be mixed with the soil, and good drainage is essential, since a moderate supply of water during the growing season is needed. When at rest only just enough water should be given to keep the bulbs plump. We have found it do well in the Cattleya house, placed as near the light as possible, but shaded from the hot sun. The leaves being thin they are apt to scorch. It is propagated by dividing the pseudobulbs, leaving one old pseudobulb along with the new one.

Odontoglossum triumphans.—We have received, through the post, from J. Gordon, Esq., Aikenhead, Cathcart, near Glasgow, flowers of two distinct varieties of this beautiful species, varying both in size and in hue. One variety was of large size, and very bright in colour, the sepals and petals being of a clear golden yellow, barred and spotted with brownish-crimson, and the lip white, with the throat yellow, and the apical portion brownish-crimson. The other variety was smaller, and as Mr. T. Hogg, the gardener, informs us, was from a pseudobulb with two spikes bearing twenty-nine expanded flowers; in this the sepals and petals were nearly all brownish-crimson, with very little golden yellow, the lip white, with a large irregular blotch of brownish-crimson on the antical portion—B. S. W.

ODONTOGLOSSUM CORADINEI.
[Plate 90.]
Native of New Grenada.

Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs elongate-ovate, compressed, somewhat ribbed, usually diphyllous. Leaves narrow, ligulate, or ligulate-oblong, acuminate, of a deep green colour, an extra one or more sometimes sheathing the base of the pseudobulbs. Scape radical, with small triangular bracts supporting a slender spreading raceme of nine to ten flowers, which forms a neat spike of about a foot in length. Flowers stellate, somewhat over three inches in breadth and length; sepals lanceolate, tapered to a long narrow point, pale yellow, with about two large irregular sometimes broken spots of chestnut-brown at some distance from the base; petals similar in form and colour, one inch and a half long, marked with a large often bipartite spot at a considerable distance from and one or two smaller spots nearer the base; lip shorter than the petals, obovate-oblong, apiculate, contracted in the middle, paler yellow, with a squarish spot of chestnut-brown on the middle or contracted portion, and a few spots or blotches near the base, where there is a crest of two upcurved horns. Column whitish, semiterete, with brown blotches in the sub-rhomboid wings, which are denticulate on the outer edge.

Odontoglossum Coradinei, Reichenbach fil., in Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1872, 1068, fig. 251; Id. Xenia Orchidacea, ii. 208, t. 192, figs. 1-4.

This is one of the numerous imported forms of Odontoglots which are supposed to be natural hybrids, many of which are so beautiful and so much sought after, becoming greater favourites as time passes. We are by no means surprised at the growing taste for this charming Orchidic genus, since the plants are of easy culture, require nothing but cool treatment, and their flowers, which are of long duration, are borne on graceful spikes.

The form we now represent is distinct in colour, and comes in as a good contrast with the varieties of Odontoglossum Alexandræ (crispum)—a contrast which it should always be sought to establish in making a collection, in order to produce a picturesque effect in the house, since the different varieties when associated show each other off to advantage.

The plant was found in New Grenada by the collectors Chesterton and Coradine, and was named by request of the former (who has lately died) in honour of his companion in travel. It appears to be a hybrid between Odontoglossum triumphans and some of the O. odoratum group, and would seem to be somewhat variable in character. The sketch we publish was taken from a plant in the collection of Robert Warner, Esq., Broomfield, near Chelmsford, who has the largest and finest collection of Odontoglots we have seen, extending to about twelve thousand plants. In this collection we have seen many hundred spikes of O. Alexandræ (crispum)—and other kinds in bloom at the same time, and, arranged as they were in two long houses, the sight was a glorious one, never to be forgotten. A similar magnificent display is obtained every year.

Odontoglossum Coradinei, which is very rare, forms a compact-growing plant, furnished with lively green foliage, and producing its flowers, about nine in number, on a drooping spike; the sepals and petals are primrose colour, spotted with a warm brown, and the lip is primrose, with an oblong spot of brown in the centre. The plant blooms during winter, and lasts for several weeks in full beauty. It requires to be grown in the cool house, and should have the same temperature and treatment as O. Alexandræ.

Mr. Lee’s Vandas.—We were favoured recently with a box of Orchid flowers from W. Lee, Esq., Downside, Leatherhead. The box contained twenty-one grand spikes of varieties of Vanda suavis and V. tricolor, amongst which were some of the finest forms we have ever seen. It was, indeed, a feast of Vandas to have so many fine varieties side by side. Amongst the varieties of V. tricolor were many forms—from a pale variety with a whitish ground up to the most superbly marked one of the series, which Mr. Lee calls the “Downside” variety. The markings of this gem are very rich and distinct, the spots being well defined, of a bright chestnut-brown, and the lips a rich magenta. V. tricolor Patersoni and V. tricolor superba were quite in the shade by the side of this great beauty. V. tricolor Warnerii was also grand, but of a different type to the last-mentioned plant, having rosy margins around the sepals and petals; this plant is well figured in Warner’s Select Orchidaceous Plants.

Of Vanda suavis there were some magnificent forms, one, marked Lee’s variety, being especially fine; this had thirteen flowers on the spike; the sepals and petals were of fine form, with distinct pale brownish-crimson spots. In some cases the spotting of this variety is very peculiar, especially on the lower parts of the sepals and petals, where the spots or stripes are from half an inch to three-fourths of an inch long, rendering the markings very distinct.

Accompanying the Vandas was a fine variety of Cattleya Mendelii, called Jamesiana, with rose-coloured sepals and petals, and a broad well-fringed lip, two inches across, of a bright magenta, with the throat yellow, streaked with dull purple; the petals are distinctly blotched with bright magenta at the apex.—B. S. W.

PHAIUS TUBERCULOSUS.
[Plate 91.]
Native of Madagascar.

Epiphytal. Stems (pseudobulbs) fusiform or sub-clavate jointed, dark green, annularly marked by the pallid bases of the leaf-sheaths. Leaves oblong-acuminate, about a foot long, plicate, narrowed below, the base again enlarged so as to clasp the stems. Scape produced with the young growth, green, below bearing lanceolate imbricated bracts, and terminating in an erect raceme of six or more flowers. Flowers spreading, two and a half inches across, of singular form; sepals ovate-acuminate, stoutish, pure white; petals of the same colour and texture as the sepals, but rather broader and more oblong; lip obliquely funnel-shaped at the base, with a blunt chin projecting upwards, three-lobed; the two basal lobes large, suborbicular, meeting the column, yellow, thickly blotched with irregular spots and dots of a dull crimson, producing a bronzy effect, furnished with scattered hairs on the surface, wavy at the edge; front lobe smaller, roundish-emarginate or subcordate, wavy, white, with rosy purple marginal spots, closely frilled; disk yellowish white, with three deep orange-yellow crests or ridges towards the front, the crests bluntly toothed and wavy along the upper edge, the central one forked about the middle; near the base, a short distance from the column, is a small tuft of pale sulphur capitate hairs. Column slender, incurved, club-shaped, white, tinted with purple in front.

Phaius tuberculosus, Blume, Museum Botanicum Lugduno-Batavum, ii., 181; Id., Orchidées de l’Archipel Indien et du Japon, 13, t. ii. B.; Gardeners’ Chronicle, N.S., xv., 341, fig. 67; Reichenbach fil., in Gardeners’ Chronicle, N.S., xv., 428.

Limodorum tuberculosum, Du Petit-Thouars, Orchidées recueillies sur les trois Iles Australe d’Afrique, t. 31.

Bletia tuberculosa, Sprengel, Systema Plantarum, iii., 744; Lindley, Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants, 123.

The plant we are now about to describe, and of which a figure accompanies these remarks, is one of the most beautiful and distinct yet known, one, moreover, which has only bloomed in few collections. It is a new introduction from Madagascar, and as yet is a very rare plant, being difficult to import and also to establish, which is much to be regretted on account of its beauty. Our plate was taken from a well-grown specimen in the fine collection of Baron Schröder, of The Dell, Staines, where, under the care of Mr. Ballantyne, the plant is very successfully managed. Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., has also been fortunate in flowering it, and, indeed, it was first exhibited by him.

Phaius tuberculosus produces short fusiform fleshy stems, from which proceed the new growths, consisting of a tuft of plicate leaves, of light green colour, and with them the flower spike, which is erect, and has as yet only borne about half-a-dozen flowers on each. It blooms during January and February, and is difficult to establish and cultivate. As the plant gets better understood it may be found more easy to import, and other growers may then be more successful. Many of the imported plants have been lost through want of knowledge as to packing and other requirements of travel; there is little doubt that our collectors will be more successful as to these matters, and then we may expect the plants to reach Europe in safety. We know of many Orchids that were once considered difficult to import which are now obtained safely in quantities through being sent at the proper season. If plant collectors would study this point they would be very much more successful than they have hitherto been. Of course it is difficult for one to be on the spot at the moment when the plants have matured their bulbs, and so as to get them to this country before they start into growth, but if this could be done there would be more chance of saving them.

There is another important point affecting cultivation, namely, that more complete information where and how the plants are found in their native habitats should be obtained and furnished. A great deal of the success in the development of all these and other plants depends on their proper treatment as regards the temperature and the supply of moisture. If they are found in low-lying districts they require quite a different treatment to that of those which occur in high and mountainous districts.

Whenever we find a plant, as this is, difficult to cultivate, we should endeavour to find out which house suits it best; this may easily be done if we have different houses situate in different aspects, and even if there is but one house a great deal can be done by placing the plant in different positions in that house. If it does not succeed in one part it may do so in another, and should it happen that a plant is found to thrive well in a particular part, an endeavour should be made to keep it there during its season of growth, and should it be removed during the resting period let it be put back again the following season to make its growth. There is more than many growers imagine in this matter of setting plants in the places which they are found to like best. Some cultivators, because they have succeeded for a few years, think they can do as they please with a particular plant, but this is an error. We often meet with cases in which persons have grown their plants well for a few years, after which they go back. The cause is generally not far to seek. It may often be attributed to over watering, or to keeping the plants dry when they should have been moist, or to changing the temperature, or allowing the plants to get dirty. There are various other causes of non-success, such as acting on the advice of different persons, rushing suddenly into different modes of treatment, using different materials, or some other such-like practices. We have in our time seen many new schemes tried, and have to record that many of them have utterly failed.