Lip, nearly square, light purple veined with deep purple. Flowers in early Summer 
and lasts from six to seven weeks under good conditions. 
This species does best in a shallow basket. A little, rich leaf-mould may be added 
to the compost. In planting use only a thin layer of compost, which should be 
pressed firmly about the roots. Give them plenty of light and copious water in 
the growing season. They will do well enough in a bushhouse during the Summer, 
but require more warmth in Winter, when glasshouse treatment will be desirable. 
MILTONIA VEXILLARIA. Native of Colombia. 
The most popular of all the Miltonia species and indeed one of the most beautiful 
of orchids. It is a bad traveller, hence it is difficult to obtain healthy specimens. 
Once established, however, it is the easiest of the Miltonias to grow, providing 
care is taken to keep it free of thrips. Pseudobulbs, oblong and rather narrow, and 
about 2 inches tall, bear a pair of narrow, pointed, pale green leaves, each about 
10 inches long. Scapes erect and carry from two to seven large flowers 4 inches 
or more across. Sepals and petals are smallish, but a beautiful bright rose in 
colour. The crowning glory of the flower is the labellum, which is very large and 
flat, bilobed in front, rich rose, shading to white at the base, and streaked with 
yellow and red. Flowers in late Spring and early Summer. This plant will grow 
in an ordinary bushhouse all the year round in the warmer parts of Brisbane and 
the North. In cooler parts it will be desirable to transfer it to the glasshouse 
during the winter. Plenty of water while growth is vigorous, but discretion must 
be used in the resting period. 
Syn. Odontoglossum vexillaria. 
Var. Hilliana.—Lip spotted with purple and margined with rose. 
Var. leucoglossa.—Lip white. 
Var. rubilla—Pseudobulbs and leaves smaller, the flowers also being smaller and 
bright pink, and produced in Autumn. 
Var. superba.—Darker in colour than the type, lip crimson with three broad, 
radiating lines of white. 
MILTONIA WARSCEWICZII. Native of Peru. 
A very distinctive and handsome species with clustered pseudobulbs, 5 inches tall 
and 1 inch across, very compressed and green, with a single apical leaf and 
about six basal leaves. The strap-shaped leaves are from 6 to 9 inches long and 
15 inches across, and bright green in colour. The scape is long, wiry, arching 
and branching, and carries as many as 40 flowers, each about 2 inches in width. 
The sepals and petals have their margins recurved near the base, are wavy and 
reddish-brown with yellow tips. The lip is nearly round, bilobed in front. It is 
rose-purple, blotched in the centre with yellowish-brown, with a broad band of 
white round the edges. Flowers in Summer and Autumn, the blooms lasting three 
weeks or more. Treatment as for M. candida. 
Var. Weltoni—Flowers smaller. Purple of the lip cut off sharply half-way to 
the apex, the rest being white. Blotch olive-brown. 
Var. xanthini.—Sepals and petals yellow. Lip light yellow with white border. 
215 
