December 15, 1888.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



G93 



both side9 on to the margin. The lower part is 

 light yellowish-green, with a few small brown spots 

 on each side of moderately dark tint. The broad 

 connate sepal is of a light yellow, with two very 

 small brown spots at the base. Petals nearly undu- 

 late, rather broad and blunt, sulphur-coloured. Lip 



thing like it before. It was kindly sent to me by 

 Mr. Horsman, of Colchester, whose name it justly 

 bears. 



Its general floral character may be indicated 

 by stating its narrow, and yet not too narrow, shape. 

 The odd sepal is blunt, cuneate-oblong, and the 



Fig, 97. — the coebicam use, rises laricio, at kew. (see p. 09-.) 



darker sulphur-coloured. Staminode bright yellow, 

 with the knob of an orange colour. Peduncle and bract 

 light green. This is decidedly a most remarkable 

 plant, and a fresh ornament to the collection of 

 Baron von Schroder. H. G. ttvhh. f. 



Cypripedicm insigxe (Watt.), var Horsmamantm, 

 n, var, 



A remarkably elegant variety. I never saw any- 



upper part is quite white, the lower like the re- 

 mainder of the flower, has likewise the usual colours. 

 The lower sepals are narrow, oblong-ligulate, acute. 

 The petals are directed forwards, and are spreading 

 at the top. The lip is very remarkable in hav- 

 ing a beak in the middle of the mouth, and 

 rather low side-partitions. In these days of Cypri- 

 pediums it might prove exceedingly valuable for 

 hybridisation. H. G. Bchb.f, 



Zygopetaltjm marginatum, Bchb.f. 

 A plant of this old but apparently rare species is 

 now flowering in the Kew collection, having been 

 sent from New Grenada by Patin. It belongs to the 

 section YVarscewiczella, and is also known as W. 

 marginata. It grows 6 inches high, and its narrowly 

 cuneate-oblong leaves are flabellately arranged, as in 

 this section of the genus. Its flowers are solitary, 

 large, and fragrant, the colour white, with a broad 

 band of maroon-purple round the lip, a few streaks 

 of the same colour on the curiously toothed disc, 

 and three irregular violet lines in front of the same. 

 The incurved side-lobes just meet at their tips, which 

 is one of the characters by which it may be distin- 

 guished from the closely allied Z. velatum. It was 

 introduced in 1853 by Messrs. Jackson, of Kingston, 

 and is described in these columns at p. 647 of that 

 year, as Warrea quadrata, by Dr. Lindley. It is 

 also well figured at t. 4766 of the Botanical Magazine, 

 under the same name, Sir William Hooker having 

 obtained a plant from the same source. B. A. Bolfe. 



DISA CULTURE. 



Now that some of the rarer Disas are flowering in 

 our gardens, a few notes as to a general plan of cul- 

 ture_for the different sections, and especially of the 

 grassy-leaved ones, including graminifolia and D. 

 lacera, figured in the Gardeners' Chronicle, p. 664, 

 may be of use in helping to secure a better under- 

 standing of these beautiful plants. For years I have 

 grown Cape terrestrials, and have never lost an 

 opportunity of getting information from my numerous 

 South African correspondents as to their habits and 

 surroundings in their native home. The result of 

 these experiences conclusively prove to me that 

 before success can be attained with certainty, the 

 genus Disa, for cultural purposes, must be divided 

 into two distinct sections. 



Section 1 may be called the grandiflora division, as 

 that species is best known to us ; under it come 

 I), uniflora, commonly known as grandiflora, 

 1). racemosa (illustrated in the Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 May 12, 1888), D. venosa, which I have 

 now secured after years of steady endeavour ; 

 D. sagittalis, D. cornuta, D. crassicornis, D. poly- 

 gonoides, and others of like habit. These 

 are leafy plants inhabiting more or less marshy 

 places, and they will all thrive grown together with 

 D. grandiflora (uniflora), with some little differences 

 which the following observations as to their mode 

 of growth may point out :— D. grandiflora, D. race- 

 mosa, D. venosa, and 1). sagittalis are strictly ever- 

 green, and are always growing either above or below 

 ground ; they increase by the old tubers producing 

 n^w ones, and also by leafy growths borne on stolons 

 or running underground stems. These require keep- 

 ing moist all the year with but little variation. 

 Some time in October is the best for repotting them, 

 and the material used, peat, sphagnum moss, crocks, 

 and charcoal, and some think added loam and fibre 

 beneficial. 



D. crassicornis, D. cornuta, and D. polv- 

 gmoides have no stolons, but perpetuate themselves 

 by direct increase from tuber to tuber after the 

 manner of Satyrium, or by seed — a mode of propa- 

 gation which is a safe and certain means of guardirg 

 against destruction to the old stock, which is much 

 resorted to by South African terrestrial Orchids in 

 their wild state. D. crassicornis, one of the hand- 

 somest and sweetest of the genus, grows on the 

 Boschberg, and in other places, at an altitude of 

 over 4000 feet, principally in loamy soil, and in 

 moist shady situations, where it frequently gets ice 

 and snow about it. Under cultivation I find it tale 

 kindly to turfy-yellow loam and a little sphagnum 

 moss, and this may be one of the essentials to its 

 good culture. 



D. polygonoides and cornuta grow in boggy, 

 sandy peat, and these two last lose their foliage 

 after flowering, and for a time should have a 

 limited supply of water, but "not be kept quite dry 

 for the new tubers immediately begin to grow after 



