THE MOST USEFUL ORCHIDS 165 



V. Parishii grows like a Phalaenopsis, and has large fleshy- 

 flowers with greenish yellow colouring and red spots, and a white 

 and violet-purple lip. 



V. Sanderiana is a grand species, but it is by no means an 

 easy one to grow. It does best in a basket or cylinder in the 

 hottest house, and when it produces its big blooms, several 

 together on a short spike, it is magnificent. The upper sepal is 

 rose and white, the lower sepals tawny yellow, reticulately veined 

 with rose-red. The petals are rose and white, and the small lip 

 is yellow, heavily marked with red and purple. 



V. suAvis is an old and popular species of large growth, and 

 a good stem often bears two spikes of large, fragrant flowers. 

 The sepals are white, freely marked with red-purple ; the petals 

 are similarly coloured, and the lip is rich rose-purple. V. s. 

 GoTSCHALKEi, V. s. RoLLisoNi, and V. s. Veitchii are fine varieties 

 of this useful species. 



V. TERES is a lovely plant, and one that flowers freely in the 

 early Spring when well managed. It does best at the warm end 

 of a stove, where it receives all possible sunshine and can be 

 syringed freely when growing. It should be planted in crocks 

 and sphagnum. The growth is slender, and the leaves erect and 

 terete. The spikes carry three or four flowers, each three or four 

 inches across. The sepals are white, more or less sufi^used with 

 rose ; the broader petals are deep rose, or purple-rose ; and the 

 large lip yellow, rose, and red. There are several distinct varieties, 

 V. T. CANDIDA having white flowers with yellow and rose markings 

 on the lip. 



V. TRICOLOR is very like V. suavis ; its flowers are about 

 three inches across, yellowish white, with red-brown marks, and 

 a white, purple, and red-brown lip. V. t. insignis, V. t. plani- 

 LABRis, and V. T. Patersoni are well-marked varieties. 



