THE MOST USEFUL ORCHIDS 91 



is variable in colour, but it usually grows about eighteen inches 

 high, and if not too severely rested its leaves are persistent during 

 the greater part of their second year. The flowers are produced 

 in twos or threes from the nodes along the upper portion of the 

 stems and individually they are about three inches across. The 

 sepals and broader petals are white, with the apical half shading 

 gradually to deep amethyst-purple at the tip ; the lip has a deep 

 maroon-purple disk, bordered with cream-white, while there is 

 usually a purple apex. Well marked varieties are D. n. albiflorum, 

 with flowers that are white except for a dark purple disk ; 

 D. N. Ballianum, white with a rose-pink disk ; D. n. elegans, 

 a fine form with a highly coloured lip ; D. n. Cooksonianum, 

 a remarkable variety in which the petals are coloured like the 

 lip ; D. N. NOBiLius, a fine variety with all the segments larger and 

 more richly-coloured than any other form known ; D. n. Sanderi- 

 axum, less brightly coloured than D. n, nobilius and also somewhat 

 smaller ; and D. n. virginale, with lovely white flowers that have 

 a pink disk and a primrose tinted lip. 



D. Phal^nopsis is a grand Orchid and one that is deservedly 

 popular. It was not so popular, however, until the introduction of 

 the finer variety from New Guinea, now so well known as 

 D. Phal^nopsis Schrcederianum, and it is this that is so 

 largely cultivated for the grace and beauty of its flowers and 

 because it flowers so freely in the Autumn. The varietal form 

 grows about eighteen inches or two feet high and is therefore 

 larger than the type. It carries its large, rounded, Phalsenopsls- 

 like flowers in graceful racemes, often as many as twelve or fifteen 

 together, and as they are three to four inches across a few plants in 

 bloom make a fine display. The colour is most variable, but 

 generally rose-purple or magenta-purple, but the range is from 

 pure white in D. P. hololeuca to the deepest purple. 



