I20 ORCHIDS FOR EVERYONE 



than most of the others, and seldom exceeds a foot in height. It 

 needs a shaded position and plenty of atmospheric moisture. 

 Thrips and red spider are its natural enemies. M. R. alba is pure 

 white, save for the yellow base of the lip. 



M. Regnellii is white, with rosy shading towards the base 

 of the sepals and petals, while the lip is rose, marked with purple 

 and bordered with white. It Howers in the Autumn, and is best 

 treated like M. Candida. 



M. SPECTABiLis is a low grower, and its spikes seldom carry 

 more than one flower. In the type the sepals and petals are cream- 

 coloured, and the broad lip is rosy-purple, margined with pale rose 

 or white, M. s. Moreliana is one of the finest forms of this 

 variable species, and it has a very deep purple lip ; M. s. atro- 

 RUBENS is even more richly coloured than M. s. Moreliana, while 

 M. s. virginalis is white, with a rosy mark at the base of the lip. 



M. vexillaria is the most popular member of the family, 

 and it is a fine decorative plant for flowering in the Spring and 

 early Summer. Two spikes generally proceed from the same 

 pseudo-bulb, and these carry from three to eight or nine large, flat 

 flowers, of a soft rose or rosy lilac shade. In this, as in many 

 other species, the lip is by far the most prominent organ, and a 

 breadth of three inches is quite common. After they have 

 flowered the plants should be placed at the warmest end of the 

 Odontoglossum house, or similar position, but when the cool days 

 of Autumn, arrive they must be returned to an intermediate house. 

 Potting may be done about August, when new growth commences, 

 but water must be given sparingly until the new year has brought 

 an increase of light, and flower spikes begin to form. Some 

 growers defer potting until early in the new year, and this prac- 

 tice should be followed where the plants are grown in or near 

 large towns, and where the light is very weak throughout the 



