250 THE WOODLANDS ORCHIDS 



to gather plants. Registered long since among the " Lost 

 Orchids," which should bring a little fortune to the dis- 

 coverer, native botanists and dealers in all parts of South 

 America have been looking out. And the collectors ! For 

 forty years past not one of the multitude has left the shores 

 of Europe or the United States, bound for the Cattleya 

 realm, without special instructions to watch and pray for 

 L. Jongheana. More and more pressing grew the exhorta- 

 tions as years went by and prices mounted higher, until of 

 late they subsided in despair. Yet the flower is almost con- 

 spicuous enough to be a landmark, and it does not hide in 

 the tree-tops either, like so many. 



' Every one who takes interest in orchids will be pre- 

 pared already to hear that Messrs. Sander are the men of 

 fate. How many of such spells have they broken ! With- 

 out book I recall Oncidium splendidum, of which not a plant 

 remained in Europe, nor a hint of the country where it 

 grew ; the " scarlet Phalaenopsis " of native legend, never 

 beheld of white man, which, in fact, proved to be brick-red ; 

 Cattleya labiata, the Lost Orchid par excellence^ vainly sought 

 from 1818 to 1889. The recovery of Dendrobium Schro- 

 deriuni was chronicled by every daily paper in London, or 

 almost, with a leader, when a skull was shown in Protheroe's 

 Rooms with a specimen chnging to it, and a select group of 

 idols accompanying the shipment. Less important, but not 

 less interesting, was the reappearance of Cypripedium 

 Marstersianum at a later date. Verily, we orchidists owe a 

 debt to the St. Albans firm. 



' In these cases success was merited by hard thought, 

 patient inquiry, and long effort. Working out the problem 

 in his study, Mr. Sander fixed upon a certain country where 

 the prize would be found, and sent his collector to the spot. 

 Oversluys searched for Oncidium splendidum during three 

 years, until he wrote home that it might be in or 



