VALLOTA 



VAN DA 



1897 



for three or four years without repotting, simply by 

 applying liquid manure to the roots occasionally during 

 the summer. The culture of Vallota is not difficult 

 when its peculiarities are understood. Several years 

 are needed to work up a good plant to the specimen 

 size. A Vallota bulb is about twice as large as a hya- 

 cinth. For the first potting use a light soil, with a little 

 sand at the base of the bulb, and place the bulb a dis- 

 tance below the surface equal to its own diameter. Use 

 as small a pot as possible at every stage; shift only 

 when the soil is well filled with roots and be careful to 

 break no roots when shifting to a larger pot. 



The final potting is an important operation, as the 

 plant is not to be disturbed again for three or four 

 years. Drainage should be ample and perfect. It is 

 essential that the potting soil be of a strong, permanent 

 nature and rich in plant-food. A good compost consists 

 of turfy loam, fibrous peat and old cow manure in equal 

 parts. Add a little sand and charcoal. Avoid repotting 

 until it is strictly uecessar) T , and do so only when it is 

 necessary to increase the number of plants or when 

 there is danger of the roots breaking the pot. For ama- 

 teurs the best time to repot the plants is directly after 

 the flowering period. Use the greatest care in handling 

 the roots. Allow the bulbs to project a little beyond the 

 surface. 



Some gardeners prefer to repot Vallota in June or 

 July when root action has started, but before the flower 

 stems have pushed up. Vallota likes full sunshine at all 

 times of the year. The plant will stand a few degrees 

 of frost in winter. Beware of over-potting; it is better 

 to have the bulbs crowd one another out of the pot. 

 Amateurs sometimes raise Vallotas in the window-gar- 

 den, one bulb in a 0-inch pot with 1 or 2 flower-stalks, 

 but a large specimen is well worth years of care. The 

 Scarborough Lily has been cultivated by rich and poor 

 for over a century. Its popular name is supposed to 

 have been derived in the same way as the Guernsey 

 Lily, — a Dutch bark having been wrecked off the coast 

 of England, some bulbs washed ashore and become 

 established as garden plants. Vallota is considerably 

 grown for the London market, and it is said that some 

 growers succeed in blooming their plants twice the 

 same year, in winter and summer. At the Cape, the 

 species is said to be native to peat bogs, which fact 

 would account for the special winter treatment which it 

 needs. In California the plant blooms at various times 

 of the year. Michael Bakkek. 



VANCOUVEHIA (after Capt. George Vancouver, com- 

 mander of the Discovery in the voyage to our north- 

 west coast in 1791-95). Ber- 

 beriddcea?. A genus of 3 

 species of low, hardy peren- 

 nial herbs native to our Pa- 

 cific slope. Shade - loving 

 plants, with slender creep- 

 ing rootstocks and radical 

 2-3-ternately compound lvs. 

 somewhat like maidenhair 

 or rue and rather small 

 white or yellow flowers in 

 an' open panicle on a naked 

 scape. Sepals 6, in 2 se- 

 ries, obovate, petal-like, re- 

 flexed, soon falling; petals 

 6, linear - spathulate; sta- 

 mens C: follicle oblong, 

 membranous, unequally 2- 

 valved: seeds arillate. Van- 

 couverias demand a rich 

 soil in rather shady posi- 

 tions. They are not showy 

 plants, but have foliage of 

 an elegant and refined type. 



A. Lvs. thin, membranous: fls. whitish. 



hexandra, Morr. & Decne. About 1 foot high: root- 

 stock woody, slender: lfts. roundish, mostly angulately 

 3-lobed and cordate : scape naked or 1-lvd. : panicle simple 

 or loose-branched: fls. white or cream-colored. May, 

 June. Coniferous woods, Brit. Col. to N. Calif, near the 

 coast. Gn. 30, p. 263. 



AA. Lvs. rather thick: fls. yellow. 

 chrysantha, Greene ( V. hexandra ,var. aiirea, Rattan). 

 About 1 ft. high: lfts. evergreen, sub-3-lobed, usually 

 whitened and pubescent beneath : inflorescence sub- 

 racemose: fls. somewhat larger than in I", hexandra. 

 Offered by Pilkington & Co., of Oregon, in 1892. 



F. W. Barclay. 



VANDA (native name in India). Orchidacea;. One 

 of the most attractive genera of East Indian orchids, 

 nearly all species having large, handsome flowers. In 

 habit they are dwarf and short - stemmed or tall and 

 branched, sometimes climbing to a considerable height. 

 The erect species form compact plants, with stems and 

 branches well clothed with 2 opposite rows of leaves. 

 Species like V. teres have a loose, straggling habit. 

 Lvs. flat or channeled and keeled or terete, sometimes 

 fleshy and deeply channeled ; apex pointed, Iobed or 

 toothed: fls. in racemes from the axils of the lvs.; 

 sepals and petals similar, spreading, narrowed at the 

 base almost to a claw; lahellum firmly united to the 

 column, spurred, lateral lobes small, erect, middle lobe 

 spreading; pollinia on a common stipe. About 20 spe- 

 cies, natives of India and the Malay Islands. 



Heinrich Hasselbring. 



Notwithstanding the various conditions surrounding 

 the different species of Vanda in their natural habitats, 

 the plants may nearly all be cultivated successfully 

 under the same general treatment. When a general 

 collection is grown a house of east and west exposure 

 will be found best suited to the wants of Vandas. The 

 plants require plenty of light and do not need any 

 shade from November until the middle of February. A 

 house of east and west aspect will require less shading 

 during late fall and early spring than one of southern 

 exposure, and there will be fewer ill effects from direct 

 solar heat at all times. From February until November 

 shading will be necessary, but it should never be too 

 heavy or black spot is likely to appear. The winter 

 temperature should range from 60° to 65° F. by night 

 and 70° to 75° by day, with a gradual increase of ten 

 degrees during the summer months. A few degrees 

 more with solar heat and ventilation will do no harm. 



The atmosphere must be kept moist by damping the 

 benches and paths freely once or twice a day, and ven- 

 tilation should be given whenever possible in greater 

 or less degree according to outside conditions. Espe- 

 cially during wet, cheerless weather is ventilation im- 

 portant, even if fire heat has to be applied to retain the 

 desired temperature. Vandas may be grown well in 



2636. Vanda caerulea ( X y&). 



either pots or baskets, but the latter are preferable, as 

 they admit air more freely to the roots, whereby they 

 are not so liable to decay from overwatering during se- 

 vere weather. 



The best potting or basketing material consists of 

 chopped live sphagnum moss freely interspersed with 

 large pieces of charcoal. This material should be 

 pressed in rather firmly about the roots, leaving a con- 



