THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 321 
NOTES ON PHALAINOPSIS. 
BY WILLIAM GEDNEY, 
Head Gardener to J. C. Day, Esg., Tottenham, N. 
(With Coloured Illustration of Phalenopsis Schilleriana.) 
a3 Hi genus Phalznopsis, to which the magnificent orchid 
f here figured belongs, comprises about twelve exquisitely 
beautiful species, and in some re8pects it may be fairly 
considered one of the most important of the numerous 
genera which now have a place in the orchid house. 
As regards numbers, it will not bear comparison with such genera 
as Dendrobium, Epidendrum, and Odontoglossuim, which can number 
their species and varieties by the dozen; but to show how justly 
the phalznopsids are entitled to a place in the front rank, it is suffi- 
cient to draw attention to the lovely P. amabilis, with its broad, 
leathery, deep green leaves and snow white flowers; to the more 
robust P. grandiflora, with its large pure white flowers, the lips 
beautifully tinted with yellow ; and to the glorious P. Schilleriana, 
with its bold richly marbled foliage, and huge racemes of lovely rose- 
tinted flowers. The accompanying illustration is remarkable for its 
truthfulness and is thoroughly satisfactory ; but to have anything like 
an adequate idea of the extreme splendour of this species when in 
bloom, the reader must imagine leaves ranging from fifteen to 
eighteen inches in length, and of a proportionate breadth, on a 
plant surmounted with a branched panicle, from two to three feet in 
length, and bearing from one hundred to two hundred and fifty of 
the most delicately coloured flowers. 
It is not known exactly when this phalenopsid was first intro- 
duced into cultivation, but it is a matter of history that it first 
flowered in the then famous collection of Consul Schiller, at 
Hamburgh, and that shortly afterwards it was introduced to the 
notice of English cultivators by that well-known trade grower, Mr. 
B. 8. Williams, of Upper Holloway. It at once acquired an im- 
mense degree of popularity, and as the importations were from the 
first very large, it quickly became distributed throughout the 
country, and although we do not hear so much about it now as we 
did some few years ago, it is appreciated as’ much as it ever was. 
The snow white P. amabilis has been known to science upwards of 
a hundred years, for Rumphius figures and describes it in vol. iv. of 
his “ Herbarium Amboinense,” published in 1750; but it may be 
affirmed that up to the present moment no white-fowered plant, 
orchidaceous or otherwise, has been introduced that equals, much less 
surpasses it, the well-known P. grandiflora alone excepted, which may 
be considered of equal merit. 
Several species, such as P. Zuddemanniana and P. rosea are much 
smaller in their parts than those to which special attention has been 
directed above, and although not perhaps so desirable for small 
collections, are indispensable to those having any pretensions to 
November, 21 
