THE MOST USEFUL ORCHIDS 117 



MAXILLARIA 



Another large genus, containing remarkably few plants of 

 horticultural merit, although to lovers of the curious a fairly large 

 number of species will appeal. With the exception of one, per- 

 haps two, the members of this family may well be left to those 

 who value a large number of distinct species rather than a collec- 

 tion of fewer plants of high decorative value. These two species 

 represent two distinct groups of the family. Maxillaria Sande- 

 RiANA has fleshy flowers about six inches across, borne singly on 

 decumbent stems ; the plant grows about a foot high, or rather 

 more, and has stout leaves. It is best grown in a basket, in peat 

 and sphagnum, placed in the intermediate house. The other 

 species, and one for which the writer has a weakness, is M. 

 HouTTEANA, and this has ascending rhizomes, and so is in some 

 sense a climber. All the members of its section should be grown 

 against a piece of tree-fern stem, or up a teak raft, with a little 

 peat and sphagnum about their roots. In M. vSanderiana the 

 colour is white, with deep and rich blood-red markings at the base 

 of each segment. In M. Houtteana the flowers are smaller and 

 more spreading than in the latter, and the colour is green, with 

 heavy markings of deep crimson-brown. 



Of less value, and belonging to the M. Sanderiajia group, 

 are M. fucata, M. grandiflora, M. scurrilis, M. luteo-alba, 

 M. PiCTA (a very free-flowering, sweetly fragrant species, with 

 rather small, yellowish, purple-spotted flowers), M. striata, and 

 M. venusta. Species of note belonging to the M. Houtteana 

 group are M. tenuifolia, M. meleagris, M. sanguinea, and M. 



VARIABILIS. 



