424 GENERAL REVIEW. 



Cypripedium Harrissianum is a fertile hybrid that is, it has 

 borne good seed when fertilised with pollen from C. Stonei, 

 a batch of seedlings raised by Messrs Veitch between these two 

 parents showing great diversity of habit; and one of these C. 

 cenanthum, above mentioned has already flowered. At first 

 sight one would say that it had the greatest resemblance to its 

 female parent ; but there is abundant evidence of the influence 

 of the male parent. The lip is exactly that of C. Harrissianum , 

 and the petals also, with the exception of a few purple spots at 

 the base ; then the upper sepal has more white at its apex, and 

 there is just a flush of vinous purple on its upper half, while 

 the greenish base is spotted with brown, much in the way of 

 C. insigne. The lower sepal is pale green, also spotted with 

 brown ; so that we find very little of C. Stonei in the flower 

 itself, if we except the vinous suffusion on the upper sepal. 

 Passing from the flower, however, we find the ovary exactly 

 like that of C. Stonei viz., pale green, with broad purple lines; 

 but instead of its being glabrous, it is clothed with purple hairs. 

 The scape itself is that of C, Harrissianum. The handsome 

 leaves are intermediate, but approach C. Stonei in being slightly 

 glossy, and in having a sharp keel behind. They are, however, 

 shorter, and this greatly alters their appearance by making them 

 look broader ; and, moreover, there is just a suspicion of the 

 markings of a marbled leaf, while at the base we have the char- 

 acteristic dotting as seen at the base of the leaves of the grand- 

 father, C. villosum. If the other hybrid Lady Slippers are fertile, 

 as we may now reasonably suppose, the production of varie- 

 ties innumerable is but an affair of time. Prof. Reichenbach 

 assumes that C. insigne Maulei is one of the parents of this 

 hybrid, and not C. Stonei. 



Phaius inquilinus is a garden hybrid raised in the nurseries 

 of Messrs Veitch & Sons, but unfortunately the records of its 

 parentage are lost (see ' Gard. Chron.,' 1867, p. 544). 



THE WOOD-SORREL FAMILY (Oxalidacece). 



This is a small natural group of herbaceous plants or small 

 shrubs, principally natives of the Cape of Good Hope and 

 South America, and a few species inhabit the temperate parts 

 of Asia and Europe. They are nearly related to Geraniacese, 

 from which they may be distinguished by their beakless fruit. 

 Many species are grown in gardens as ornamental plants, and 

 some of the tuberous-rooted South American species, as O. 

 crenata, O. Deppei, and others, produce edible tubers, which 

 may be used like Potatoes ; but their culture is not general. 



