xlii. HYBRIDISING AND RAISING ORCHID SEEDLINGS. 



seedlings have flowered very quickly. The genus contains several beautiful 

 hybrids, and is worthy of more attention. 



DiSAS. — Hybrids between Disa grandifolia and a few allied species are 

 also very easily raised, and flower very quickly. D. X Veitchii, the first of 

 the series, flowered when only twenty-one months old, and D. X kewensis, 

 which came next, only eighteen months after the seed was sown. They are 

 easily grown under suitable treatment, but sometimes do not succeed in the 

 Orchid house, requiring rather a position in a cool frame. 



Cyxorchis. — Only one Cynorchis is known, namely C. X kewensis, 

 derived from C. Lowiana and C. purpurascens, but it almost holds the 

 record for quickness of flowering, for the seedlings are said to have flowered 

 within about two years from the date when the cross was made. Seedlings 

 of this genus are of the easiest possible culture, and anyone having a warm 

 house and requiring an easy subject to commence with, could not find a 

 better one. It may be mentioned, as showing the ease with which seedlings 

 of this genus are raised, that a plant of C. fastigiata in the Clare Lawn 

 collection produced a capsule (possibly fertilised by some insect), which was 

 allowed to mature, and afterwards the seedlings came up all over the place, 

 and were pulled up like weeds. 



Zygopetalum, Lycaste, Chysis and other soft-leaved Orchids are 

 easily raised, but the capsules do not mature so quickly, nor the seedlings 

 flower so early as the genera previously mentioned. The first-named has 

 been crossed with several other genera, but the seedlings in many cases 

 have resembled the mother almost entirely, so that the attempt to reverse 

 the crosses might be made. With Colax, however, true hybrids have 

 resulted. 



Masdevallia capsules mature rather quickly, but the seedlings do not 

 flower so early as some of the soft-leaved genera previously mentioned. 

 Several beautiful hybrids have been raised, but the genus has been rather 

 neglected of late. 



Cymbidiums are very easily raised, but take longer to mature, and the 

 seedlings are sometimes rather erratic in making their appearance. There 

 IS a case on record of a batch of seeds obtained by crossing C. Lowianum 

 and C. eburneum, and sown on the compost of the parent plant, which 

 continued to germinate for years, so that some of them had reached the 

 flowering stage while others were still tiny seedlings. Hybrid Cymbidiums 

 contain some highly decorative plants, and there is plenty of scope for 

 further development. 



Cattleya may be regarded as typical of a group of allied genera of 

 epiphytic Orchids, which succeed best under the special treatment described 

 on p. xxxvii., though the old system of sowing on the compost of the 

 parent plants, or on that of young growing seedlings, may also be followed. 



