70 ORCHIDS FOR EVERYONE 



Northaw House variety is a fine example of this freedom ; this 

 belongs to |. B. Joel, Esq., Northaw House, Childwickbury, St 

 Albans, and when exhibited in May 1910, it carried six spikes, 

 with a total of thirty-two flowers and buds. A stove temperature 

 is necessary for this splendid Orchid. 



C. Spicerianum is a species which the hybridist has taken 

 full advantage of, and crossed with C. insigne it has given us the 

 beautiful and extremely useful C. Leeaniim^ while C. M'tnos^ 

 C. Calypso^ C. Moens'ice^ C. Niobe, C. aureum^ C. Staiterianuf/i, and 

 C. Latham'tanum are also among its important children. It was 

 in the autumn of 1878 that Mr H. Spicer, of Godalming, sent a 

 flower of this species to Messrs J. Veitch & Sons, but he could 

 not tell the origin of the plant. The Chelsea firm subsequently 

 secured the whole stock, and the species was named after Mr Spicer. 

 For a little while C. Spicerianum was rare and expensive, but 

 before long it was discovered in Assam by collectors sent out by 

 the Messrs Low and Messrs Sander, and so it became a popular 

 and widely grown Orchid. C. Spicerianum is a plant of neat 

 habit, and carries its flowers on stems about nine inches high. 

 Each flower is rather more than three inches across, and has a bold, 

 white dorsal sepal, with its lower margins reflexed. This segment 

 is green at the base, and down the keeled centre is a deep crimson- 

 purple band. The deflexed petals point forward a little, have 

 strongly undulate margins and are light green, speckled with 

 purple, and have a central reddish line. The lip is very shapely, 

 brown, shaded with red. C. Spicerianum is a capital plant for 

 inclusion in a collection of cool Orchids. 



C. Stonei, a strong-growing stove species, was discovered 

 about i860 by Sir Hugh Low, and it was introduced to cultivation 

 by Messrs H. Low & Co., of Clapton. It first flowered with Mr 

 J. Day, who had a fine collection of Orchids at Tottenham, and 



