THE MOST USEFUL ORCHIDS 29 



and rather fantastic appearance, it is difficult to discover why they 

 are not more largely grown. For grouping and for exhibition 

 purposes they are especially useful, and the individual blooms or 

 spikes are first rate for ball bouquets or other floral decorations 

 where bright flowers are in order. There are about a score of 

 species, all from Tropical America. These thrive at the coolest and 

 shady end of a stove, or may be cultivated with the Cattleyas, if 

 shaded. The usual mixture of peat and sphagnum suits them, 

 and during their period of active growth they require plenty of 

 moisture with a reduced supply at other times. All the Brassias 

 have attenuated sepals and petals and so the flowers are "spidery " ; 

 the latter are lightly set on the spike, in two rows. 



The best kinds for general cultivation are : — B. antherotes, 

 yellow, marked with purple-brown; B. brachiata, yellowish- 

 green with brown spots; B. CAUDATA, yellow, with brown 

 markings ; B. Gireoudiana, yellow, marked with bright red- 

 brown ; B. Keiliana, orange-yellow, with brown spots ; 

 B. Lawrenceana, yellow and brown, and its variety longissima 

 of brighter hue and with longer segments; B. maculata, yellow, 

 with brown spots, and with a white, purple-spotted lip ; and 

 B. VERRUCOSA, yellowish-green, with dark purple spots. Both 

 B. BRACHIATA and B. VERRUCOSA come from Guatemala and may 

 therefore be grown under cooler conditions than the rest ; the 

 writer has grown them well at the warm end of an Odontoglossum 

 House, where the latter has been joined on to a warm structure. 



BRASSOCATLiELIA 



The title given to this hybrid family suggests curious possi- 

 bilities in nomenclature when, in the near future, the several 



