HYBRIDISATION VIEWED FROM SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 189 
correct, as under cultivation pollen from S. rubra artificially applied to 
the stigma of S. purpurea produced exactly the same hybrid as was found 
growing wild” (“ Amer. Gard.,” June 8, 1899, p. 400). It is further 
interesting to add that from the reversed cross Messrs. Veitch had already 
raised S. Chelsoni (‘ Gard. Chron.,’’ 1880, xiil. pp. 722, 725, fig. 125). 
Among Orchids a good many supposed natural hybrids have been 
proved artificially, the first being Phalenopsis intermedia, which will 
always retain a historical interest, as the first recognised hybrid among 
tropical Orchids, and the first whose origin was experimentally demon- 
strated, an interval of thirty-three years elapsing between the two events. 
It appeared as a single plant in an importation of P. Aphrodite (then 
known under the erroneous name of P. amabilis), received by Messrs. 
James Veitch and Sons, in 1852, from the Philippines, through their 
collector, Thomas Lobb, and was described and figured in the following 
year (“ Paxt. Fl.Gard.,” iii.p. 163, fig. 316) by Dr. Lindley, who remarked : 
- Fie. 93.— PHAuENopsts x InTERMEDIA (Veitch’s ‘“ Manual of Orehidaceous Plants.”’) 
‘It is not improbable that this beautiful plant is a natural mule between 
P. amabilis and rosea,’ and then proceeded to show its resemblance to 
both species. Years afterwards, when the raising of artificial hybrids 
had become an established business, Messrs. Veitch proceeded to test the 
truth of this hypothesis by crossing P. Aphrodite with the pollen of P. 
rosea, and the resulting seedling proved absolutely identical with the 
wild plant (Rolfe in ‘“‘ Gard. Chron.,’’ 1886, xxvi. pp. 169,212). The shrewd- 
ness of Lindley’s observation will be inferred when it is remembered that 
Calanthe x Dominii, the first artificial hybrid among Orchids, did not 
flower until 1856. 
In 1886, also, Lelia x lilacina, Rehb. f., from the collection of 
F, A. Philbrick, Esq., was described as a natural hybrid between Lelia 
erispa and L. Perrinii, the two species from which Lelia Pilcheri had 
previously been raised by Mr. Dominy, and although the former presented 
some slight differences from L. Pilcheri, Reichenbach remarked, ‘ I 
believe it must be regarded as a variety of that mighty beauty.” 
In 1888 the origin of another natural hybrid Orchid was proved. 
