THE MOST USEFUL ORCHIDS 143 



resembles O. bictonense, but has its sepals and petals mottled with 

 green and brown, and its lip speckled with white over rose ; it is a 

 fine and very desirable species, and one difficult to exclude from 

 the best dozen. 



The Best Hybrids 



Practically all the hybrid Odontoglossums are of easy culture, 

 and there need be no hesitation in purchasing those that have now 

 been raised in large numbers artificially. The merit of the plants 

 obtained will, of course, be governed by the price paid, for the 

 progeny of one seed pod will vary greatly, and the more finely 

 coloured and the shapeliest flowers always command the highest 

 prices. The hybrids add a great variety of form and colour to a 

 collection and they are therefore most desirable. Very few people, 

 however, can afford to purchase the finest and rarest and newest of 

 these evidences of the hybridist's skill, and it is a mistake, from the 

 point of view of popularising Orchid culture, that so many of our 

 leading raisers exhibit only these more expensive forms, and so the 

 budding enthusiast, who would be delighted with the plants a 

 specialist would despise, is disheartened. 



For their beauty, interest, decorative value, and ease of 

 culture the following hybrids are the best for an amateur to select 

 from, and as they all show the principal features of their parents 

 it is not necessary to describe them minutely. 



O. Adrians (0. crispum x 0. Htinneivelliartum), is usually 

 brown and white or brown and buff; O. A. Ashworthianum, 

 O. A. Arthur Ashworth, O. A. Ernest Ashworth, O. A. 

 Countess of Morley, O. A. Lady Wigan, and O. A. Lord 

 Roberts are all fine varieties of this hybrid. 



O. amabile (0. crispum x O. spectabile)^ a fine hybrid in 



