80 THE FLORIST AND POMOLOaiST. [April, 



of A. sesquipedale are grown in sphagnum only, but this is of the best quality- 

 obtainable, and great care is required in watering plants potted in moss alone. 

 These plants root vigorously in a fresh open compost, and especially in the fresh 

 green layer of moss on the pot-tops. The roots are very thick and fleshy, adhering 

 very tenaciously to the sides of the pot ; indeed, it is often best to break the pot 

 rather than break the roots in attempting to turn the plant out of the pot. When 

 well grown, these plants are very effective either for exhibition or home decora- 

 tion. I will now glance at the six best species in cultivation for general 

 purposes : — 



A. BiLOBUM {Cape Coast). — This is a very free-flowering species, and remark- 

 ably easy to grow. It generally flowers during the winter season, a small plant 

 often producing two to four drooping spikes of its pretty flowers, which are of a 

 white colour, the apices of the sepals, petals, and lip being suffused with pale 

 salmon-red. This plant grows well either in a basket or pot, and requires a 

 copious supply of water at its roots during most part of the year. The flowers 

 last a fortnight to three weeks in perfection. 



A. ciTRATUM (Madagascar). — This is small compared with A. sesqiiipedale., 

 but at the same time it is one of the most delicately beautiful in the group. It 

 has closely arranged leaves, and bears slender, pendulous, flower-spikes, even 

 when in a small state. The flowers are very symmetrically arranged in this, as 

 in several other species, and are of a pale sulphur or lemon-yellow colour, the 

 dorsal sepal being much less than the other segments of the flower. 



A. EBURNEUM (Madagascar). — One of the strongest-growing species of the 

 family, bearing bright green distichous foliage, 18 in. to 2 ft. long. The flowers 

 are borne on a long erect spike, nearly as thick as the little finger, and as long, 

 often longer, than the leaves. They are about two inches across, the sepals and 

 petals green, the lip of a pure ivory white, with a greenish centre. This species 

 flowers freely about January and Febraary, lasting from four to six weeks in 

 beauty. A slender-growing variety of this, bearing greenish flowers, is the A. ebur- 

 neum virens of gardens, while another larger-growing form than the type is called 

 A. eburneum snperhum. 



A. Ellisii (Madagascar). — This species is of comparatively recent introduction, 

 and must at the same time be considered one of the finest in the group. The 

 leaves are about a foot long and lobed at the apex ; the spikes are arcuate, 

 nearly twice the length of the foliage, bearing from twenty to thirty pure white 

 flowers, which have a salmon or cinnamon-coloured spur five or six inches in 

 length. A side view of a flower reminds one of a cockatoo much more forcibly 

 than that of Peristeria data reminds one of a dove ! 



A. PELLUCiDUM (Sierra Leone). — This noble-looking plant has leaves not un- 

 like those of Phalcmopsis grandiflora., of a bright shining green colour. It beai's 

 numerous pendent spikes of closely-arranged crystalline flowers during December 

 and January. The flowers are of a pale colour, and glisten something like a 

 melting snow-flake. It grows well in either a pot or basket suspended near the glass. 

 A pair of fine plants bloom very freely in the collection at Kew. 



