6 CYPKIPBDIUM. 



so far as we are aware, not a single plant has flowered, although the 

 plants in our houses continue strong and healthy in appearance, and 

 yearly increase in size. Till these plants flower — and there is no apparent 

 ground for belief that they will not — and the structure of the ovary of 

 their flowers shall have been examined, we prefer to adhere to the 

 original circumscription of the genus, certainly a very natural one, and 

 to regard the ovarium character as of sectional value only. This view 

 is strengthened by the discovery and introduction of the remarkable 

 Cypripedium Sander ianum, a Malayan species that brings the relation- 

 ship between the East Indian and South American Cypripedes morpho- 

 logically still nearer than its previously known allies, G. Parishii, 0. 

 Stonei, G. philippinense, etc., had done. 

 The species, varieties and hybrids described in the following 

 pages will therefore come under the following heads : — 



I. Etjcypripedia, including only the East Indian and Malayan 

 species that constitute Bentham/s (sub-section) Goriacece. 



II. Selenipedia, coinciding with Reichenbach's Selenipedium, 

 and including the anomalous Uropedium Lindenii of 

 Lindley. 



III. Garden Hybrids in two divisions, (a) Eucypripedium 

 hybrids ; (b) Selenipedium hybrids. 



The genus Cypripedium was founded by Linnaeus on our native 

 species Cypripedium Calceolus, now unfortunately become exceedingly 

 rare, if not altogether lost as a wild plant in England, although 

 still plentiful in some localities in Central Europe. The name is 

 derived from K.(nrpiQ (Kupris), one of the Greek names of VenuSj 

 and -rro^iov (podion), " a slipper," in reference to the slipper-like form 

 of the labellum ; whence also the popular names " Lady's Slipper " 

 and " Slipperworts." 



EUCYPRIPEDIA. 



The true Cypripedia are recognised by the following characters, 

 omitting those possessed only by the species inhabiting the north 

 temperate regions of both hemispheres, of which we take no 

 cognisance.* 



* These hardy Cypripedes are divided hy Bentham, following Lindley, into two sections : — 



I. Folioscc : species with leafy stems, of which Cypripedium Calceolus may be taken as the type. 



II. Diphyllai : species with two leaves only, as C. japonicum, C. acaule, and two or three others. 

 All the included species of both sections are deciduous, and have an underground rhizome that 

 remains dormant during the winter. 



