July 8, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



33 



Two New Hardy Cypripediums from Western China 



increased by the 

 pecies from Western 



Hardy cypripediums have been 

 addition of two noteworthy 



China, as a result of the writ.']'- recent plant-collei ting 

 work in that country. One of these, C. tibeticum, 



:v; il England in April 1905 and dowered the June 



following in Messrs: Veitch's Coombe Wood Nurseries. 



jn 1906 ii lowered again and was exhibited at the 



Temple Slmw. May 29th., receiving a P. C. C. Vers 



roots were introduced and the plant lias in con- 



certain glacial torrents which are surcharged with 

 petrifying limestone. Nevertheless, having seen it 

 growing in a variety of soils, one would hesitate to say 

 that a calcareous soil was necessary. A cool situation 

 ami ] 1 1 1 • 1 1 > \ of Leafsoil would seem the essentials. 'Phis 

 plant in habit, vigor and general appearance closely 

 resembles our C. spectabile and where the latter 

 thrives C. luteum should succeed. 



Cypripedium tibeticum, as known to the writer, is 



sequence, never got into gardens generally. On the a dwarf-growing species, 8-20 cm. high, hut those from 



Arnold Arboretum's second expedition jusl concluded the Chumbi Valley attain to the height of 35 cm. The 



(the writer's fourth in all) a considerable number of flowers are solitary, very large, with sepals and lateral 



roots of this C. tibeticum and an even larger quantity petals striped and reticulated with reddish-purple on 



of a new and yellow flow- 

 ered species (C. luteum) 

 have been successfully in- 

 troduced to cultivation. 

 The roots were received at 

 the Arnold Arboretum, 

 Boston, on April 12th. last, 

 and a few plants were 

 potted and kept in a green- 

 house. On May 6th. C. 

 luteum opened its flowers 

 for the first time under 

 cultivation and the photo- 

 graph here reproduced was 

 taken. The flowers are 

 represented one-third natu- 

 ral size in the photograph 

 but the originals were only 

 about half their usual di- 

 mensions on account of 

 their being forced. 



These roots were dug up 

 in October, 1910, trans- 

 ported some eighteen hun- 

 dred miles by porters, boat, 

 and steamer, and finally 

 shipped from Shanghai on 

 March 14th,1911. Although 

 the roots were a full six 

 months from the time of 

 collecting to that of plant- 

 ing they came through in 

 good shape and hundreds 

 are growing freely in the 

 Arboretum nurseries. This 

 augurs well for their vital- 

 ity and their acclimatization 

 should not be a difficult 

 matter. Their hardiness, 



paler ground color; pouch 

 usually dark maroon-pur- 

 ple,, rarely paler. This 

 Thibetan Cypripedium was 

 originally discovered in the 

 Chumbi Valley in 1879, 

 and received the manuscript 

 name of "tibeticum" from 

 Sir George King. Subse- 

 quently, it was regarded as 

 a variety of the Siberian C. 

 macranthon until recog- 

 nized by Eolfe in 1892 as 

 distinct. The late Mon- 

 sieur Franchet named Pere 

 Delavay's specimens of this 

 plant C. macranthon, var. 

 eorragatum, and later, in 

 1894, raised it to specific 

 rank under the name of C. 

 eorragatum. The Siberian 

 C. macranthon is widely 

 spread and admittedly vari- 

 able but anyone who has 

 seen the two (C. tibeticum 

 and C. macranthon) grow- 

 ing wild or under cultiva- 

 tion would never regard 

 them as one and the same 

 species. 



Cypripedium tibeticum is 

 widely spread along the 

 Chino-Thibetan borderland 

 and • on the Alpine moor- 

 lands, between three thou- 

 sand and four thousand 



for the first time under cultivation at the Arnold 

 Arboretum, Boston, May 6. 1911. 



Reproduced by permission of Prof. C. S. Sargent. 



Cypripedium i.utecm. 

 \ new, yellow, flowered, hardy orchid from Thibet. Flowering metres, is numerically One 



of the commonest plants. 



It occurs in countless thou- 

 as judged from the altitude at which they occur in a sands as the accompanying illustration, from a photo- 

 native state and from plants growing in association graph taken the end of June, 1908, indicates. It is 

 with them, is assured. Both too, are sturdy, vigorous possibly the finest of all red-flowered hardy cypn- 

 growers. pediums. 



Cypripedium luteum is an erect growing species In addition to the foregoing species the Arnold Ar- 



20-45 cm. high. The flowers are solitary with sepals 

 and petals deep, clear yellow : the pouch though occa- 

 sionally all yellow, has usually a few spots or blotches 

 of orange brown on its face. 



Its habitat is the margins of thin woods and thick- 

 ets; it also occurs on scrub-clad boulders stranded in 

 bogs. Around Sungpan, in the extreme north-west 

 corner of Szechuan, it is abundant in thin woods of 

 spruce and silver fir, growing near the margin of 



boretum is in possession of a third introduced with 

 them from the same regions. This may or may not be 

 the widely >pread C. macranthon. Later Mr. Eolfe 

 hopes to investigate the matter further and decide its 

 identity. 



LCf-s*-^ . 



