MACROSCOPIC AND MICROSCOPIC CHARACTERS OF PLANTS. 



811 



a deep cleft narrowed at the base into a claw and pro- 

 duced into two acute-ovate auricles extending upwards on 

 each side of the column, color is white tinted with pale 

 rose along the veins and at the base a pale yellow streaked 

 with red, 2 small 2-lobed callus at the base that is yellow 

 and prolonged in front into 3 short teeth ; column very 

 6hort. 



Miltonia rcezlii Nichols (Pollen Parent). — Pseudo- 

 bulbs 1 to 2 inches long, compressed, ovate-oblong, pale 

 green, bearing 1 leaf at the apex. Leaves 8 to 12 inches 

 long, narrower than in M. vcxillaria, linear-lanceolate, 

 dark green above, lighter green and keeled beneath. 

 Kacemes shorter or as long as the leaves, slender, 2- to 

 5-flowered. Flowers borne on pedicels that are longer 

 than the bracts, flat, 3 to 3 and a half inches across, 

 variable in size ; sepals obovate-oblong, acute, dorsal sepal 

 narrower than the lateral ones, pure white; petals as 

 large as or broader than the lateral sepals, white with a 

 broad red-purple band at the base (the plants used in this 

 research did not have this red-purple band) ; labellum 

 broadly obcordate with a cleft in the anterior margin 

 and a very acuminate apex in the cleft, clawed at the 

 base and prolonged into 2 small auricles, white with a 

 deep yellow fan-shaped area at the base with red-purple 

 veins; the callus consists of 3 raised lines on the disk 

 with 2 small teeth in front; column longer and wider 

 than in M. vcxillaria. 



Miltonia blcuana (Hybrid). — Pseudobulbs 1 to 2 

 inches long, compressed, ovate-oblong, pale green, bear- 

 ing 1 leaf at the apex. Leaves linear-lanceolate, dark 

 green above, lighter and keeled beneath. Racemes as 

 long or longer than the leaves, several to 1 growth, 3 to 

 4-flowered. Flowers borne in pedicels that are longer 

 than the bracts, flat, 3 to 4 inches across, variable in size ; 

 sepals obovate-oblong, subacute, slightly truncate, white ; 

 petals broader than the sepals and slightly more acute, 

 white with a pink-magenta band at the base; labellum 

 broadly obcordate with a cleft in the anterior margin 

 (not so deep as in M. vcxillaria) and a short acuminate 

 apex in the cleft, clawed at the base, and prolonged into 

 2 auricles, white with a fan-shaped rayed red-brown 

 blotch in front of the yellow disk, the callus has 3 ridges 

 with 2 small teeth in front ; column short. 



Comparisons of the Macroscopic Characters of the 



Parent and Hybrid Pseudobulbs. 



Pseudobulbs. 



The pscudobulb in M. vcxillaria is longer, wider, and 

 thicker than in M. rcezlii. In the hybrid it is longer and 

 wider than in cither parent, not quite as thick as in 

 M . vcxillaria and thicker than in M. rcezlii. The pseudo- 

 bulbs in all three plants are light green and have a waxy 

 covering. (Table J 43.) 



Leaf. 



The leaves of M. vcxillaria are longer and broader 

 and are of a paler green than in M. rcezlii. The leaves 

 of the hybrid vary in length, some being as long as those 

 of M. vcxillaria, others as short as those of M. rcezlii, 

 but the average length and width, though between the 

 two parents, is much nearer M. rcezlii than M. vcxillaria. 

 (Table J 43.) 



Table J 43. 



The color of the leaves of the hybrid is very much 

 nearer that of M. rcezlii than of M. vcxillaria. 



M. vcxillaria has on the average to 1 growth, 7 to 9 

 leaves ; M. rcezlii, 4 ; and the hybrid, 6. 



Flower. 



The flower-stalk borne in the axil of one of the leaves 

 at the base of the pscudobulb is practically of the same 

 length in M. vexillaria and M. rcezlii, but much longer 

 in the hyb rid. (Table J 43.) 



The pedicel is shorter in the hybrid than in cither 

 parent. (Table J 43.) 



The dorsal and lateral sepals are unequal in length, 

 the former being slightly shorter than the latter. The 

 dorsal sepal is slightly wider than the lateral in M. vcxil- 

 laria and the hybrid, but of the same width in M. rcezlii. 

 Both dorsal and lateral sepals of M. vexillaria are shorter 

 and the dorsal is slightly wider than those of M. rcezlii, 

 and they are practically identical in both length and 

 width with those of the hybrid. (Table J 43.) 



In M. vcxillaria the sepals are wide and blunt at the 

 apex, with only a small point ; in M. rcezlii they are acute, 

 the widest part being in the middle, gradually tapering off 

 to a long pointed apex; in the hybrid they widen out to a 

 certain extent at the top, but not nearly so much as in 

 M. vexillaria,, and the apex is longer than in M. vcxillaria, 

 but shorter than in M. rcezlii. They arc pale pink in 

 M. vexillaria, and white in M. rcezlii and the hyb rid. 



The petals aire shorter and slightly broader in M. 

 vcxillaria than in M. rcezlii. Those of the hybrid and 

 .V. vexillaria are identical in length and width. (Table 

 J 43.) 



In shape, the petals somewhat resemble the sepals, 

 but the difference between those of the parents is not so 

 marked. The hybrid is fairly mid-intermediate in shape 

 between those of the parents. 



