THE CYPRIPEDIUM HOUSE 175 



Schomburgkia tibicinis x Laelia purpurata ; one plant. 



The discovery that fertile unions may be concerted 

 between species, and even genera, differing in all visible 

 respects, gives profound interest to the study of hybridisa- 

 tion in the scientific point of view. We have gone so far 

 already that classifications which appeared to be unquestion- 

 able have been rudely upset. That Laelias and Cattleyas 

 should combine is not surprising, even though one come 

 from North Mexico and the other from South Brazil. But 

 what shall we say when Epidendrums combine with both ^ 

 — with Sophronitis, Zygopetalum ! — nay, with Oncidium ! ! 

 — with Dendrobium ! ! ! Sobralia proves fertile with Cattleya ; 

 so does Sophronitis. Spathoglottis has been crossed with 

 Bletia and with Phajus. Zygopetalum with Colax, with 

 Oncidium, with Epidendrum, with Odontoglossum. Schom- 

 burgkia with Laelia and Bletia. Combinations even more 

 astonishing are reported, but for those named there is re- 

 sponsible authority. 



I cannot go into detail ; these remarks are designed 

 only to call attention to the subject. Not all the bigeneric 

 hybrids mentioned have flowered ; and at the present time 

 we have learned enough to be aware that possibly one parent 

 will be ignored by the offspring — that a seedling of Epiden- 

 drum crossed with Dendrobium, for example, will bloom a 

 pure Epidendrum or a pure Dendrobium of the species used ; 

 which in itself is sufficiently strange. But seedlings have 

 actually been produced in every case which I have named. 

 It is one of the fixed rules in biology that the offspring of 

 different species must be barren — otherwise the parents are 

 not truly species — and that different genera will not breed 

 at all. But in most instances which have been brought to 

 the test as yet, hybrid orchids of different species prove 

 fertile, and some bigeneric crosses yield a progeny at least. 

 What follows ? Evidently that the genera or the species 



