214 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A splendid Vanclci tricolor perfumed the house with its sweet odor, 

 and a plant of AnselUa Africana, two feet in diameter, was loaded 

 with bunches of curiousl}^ veined flowers, of purple, green, and 

 yellow. The delicate and almost unrivalled Coelogyne cristata 

 showed large spikes of pure white blossoms with a crested yellow 

 lip. 



The Oncidium papilio, or West India Butterfly-plant, nearly 

 always in bloom, was very maiked, and particularly conspicuous 

 for its. insect-shaped flowers ; and a large specimen of the Phaken- 

 02')sis amabilis, or East India Butterfly -plant, was in full bloom, 

 with flowers three inches wide. The Oncidium leiicochilum, a 

 white-lipped beauty, was also admired for its rare delicacy. 



The Saccolabium, violaceum and S. giganteum, compact in growth, 

 with pendent, evergreen foliage, sent from their tinted, shell-like 

 cups, a delicious fragrance through the room ; and the Dendro- 

 biums — chysotoxum, superlmm, calceolaria and yiobile, attracted much 

 notice by their splendid spikes of flowers. The Vanda coerules- 

 cens, with its clear amethyst blue, also excited much interest. 

 But the Bletia Tankervillim (or Phaiiis grandifolius) was, perhaps, 

 the most striking feature of the house. Of these, there were 

 several very large plants, full of flower stalks, many of them four 

 feet high and studded with blooms, — some having twelve or fifteen 

 stalks and making altogether a magnificent display. Rare Cypri- 

 2}€diums, with their peculiar slipper-flowers were very prominent ; 

 and Pitcher-plants (Nepenthes) hung from the roof, while the lovely 

 Thunhergia Harrisii trailed in long festoons of rich lavender 

 blooms, intertwined with the tasteful Clerodendron Thomsonioe. 



Again, in the month of June, some of your committee visited 

 the place and found all in order, having passed safely through the 

 winter ; though the orchids generally were not in such perfection 

 as in their blooming season. The Cattleya Mossiw, that magnifi- 

 cent orchid of La Guayra, both in the hall and hot-house, was in 

 excellent condition and in full bloom, exciting great admiration ; 

 and in September the Cattleya crispa was also in flower. The 

 Aerides, which .are among the choicest, especially the species 

 odoratum, Fieldingii, Lobbii, and affine, with racemes of red 

 flowers, so rivalled each other that one could hardly decide be- 

 tween them. The Stanhopeas, with their curious, pendent flowers, 

 presented a charming aspect, twenty-six varieties furnishing a 

 succession. 



