no THE WOODLANDS ORCHIDS 



The Dendrobium House 



is the last in this series, where we see the usual varieties in 

 perfection ; there are pseudo-bulbs of Wardianum more than 

 4 feet long. At the present day, however, orchidists will not 

 look at ' usual varieties ' of Dendrobium with patience — nobile, 

 cupreum, fimbriatum, thyrsiflorum, etc. etc. etc. They are 

 exquisitely lovely, of course. Examine them as often as you 

 v/ill, new marvels of beauty appear. The fact is that most 

 experts never do examine these common things ; they look 

 about for varieties. Such blase souls can be accommodated, 

 if needful. Here are specimens of nobile alburn^ all white 

 save the deep crimson blotch and a faint yellowish tinge upon 

 the lip ; nobile virginale, which has lost even this trace of 

 colour ; nobile murrhinianum^ very rare, understood to be a 

 hybrid with Wardianum, snow white, the tips of sepal, petal 

 and lip purple, and a great purple blotch in the throat ; 

 nobile Cooksoni^ no hybrid, but a sport, in which the ordinary 

 colouring of the lip is repeated in the petals ; nobile Ruckeri- 

 anu?n, very large, the deep blotch on the lip bordered with 

 white ; nobile splendens grandiflorum^ an enlarged and in- 

 tensified form of the type. 



Of hybrids I may name Leechianum (nobile x aureum), 

 white, sepals, petals, and lip tipped with rosy purple, the 

 great blotch on the disc crimson with a golden tinge. Ains- 

 'voorlhii, of the same parentage and very similar, but the 

 blotch is wine -colour. Schneider ianum (Findleyanum x 

 aureum), bearing white sepals, petals and lip tipped with rosy 

 purple, throat orange, similarly striped. 



Here are several ' specimens ' of Epidendrum radicans, a 

 tangle of fresh green roots and young shoots of green still 

 more fresh and tender, pleasant to look upon even though 

 not flowering ; but verdant pillars set with tongues of flame 



