NEW York 



Ipreface, botanical 



THE object of the present work is to provide an authentic list of 

 existing Orchid hybrids of artificial origin, arranged on a uniform 

 system, so as to show at a glance the crosses that have already been 

 made, the adopted name of the hybrids, the works in which they have been 

 described and figured, the original raiser or exhibitor, and the date of first 

 flowering — in short it is intended as a guide to the already vast literature of 

 the subject, and a standard of nomenclature. No apology is necessary for 

 its production — a glance at the synonymy of some of the more popular 

 hybrids enumerated should convince anyone of the need of such a 

 Text Book. 



Many difficulties have been met with during its execution. These have 

 partly arisen through the same hybrid having been raised independently in 

 different collections, but chiefly through want of a uniform system. Some 

 raisers have considered all the seedlings from the same cross as forms of one, 

 while others have given distinct names to different seedlings out of the same 

 seed-pod. Some hybrids have received Latin or classical names, in accord- 

 ance with the rules of binomial nomenclature, or have been distinguished by 

 the joint names of the two parents, while others have been named in the 

 vernacular. A few have been recorded without names. In addition to this 

 there are many hybrids whose parentage has been lost, or whose records are * 

 incomplete, contradictory, or erroneous. Stray seedlings, loss or absence 

 of record of parentage, change of ownership of unflowered seedlings, the 

 contemporaneous flowering of the same hybrid in different collections, and 

 the naming of hybrids without reference to the work of earlier operators, 

 have all contributed their quota to the confusion arising from the 

 multiplicity of systems of nomenclature, and the result may be seei^ in the 

 .— following pages. The object of the work is to provide a remedy for this 

 cr confusion, so far as possible, and we may now proceed to describe the 

 .^^ plan , of the work. 



c<. ■ The work is divided into two parts :-r- ^ 



O Part I. contains an enumeration of the species and hybrids which have 

 Q been used as parents, these being arranged in alphabetical sequence, 



