CYPRIPEDIUM. 19 



Sander and Co. ; Regnieri was the last discovery of the late Auguste 

 Regnier, in Cambodia, and was introduced by M. Godefroy, of 

 Argenteuil, near Paris, in 1885; tonquinense was first sent to an 

 amateur cultivator of orchids in France by a French missionary in 

 Tongkin; the geographical distribution of G. concolor is thence more 

 extensive than that of any of the coriaceous Cypripedes yet known. 

 Nor is this its chief peculiarity; it is the type of a small group 

 that includes G. niveum, G. Godefroyce, and C. bellatulum, a group 

 so beautiful and so distinct from all other Cypripedes in cultivation 

 that the forms comprising it are justly reckoned among the gems 

 of the Orchid World. 



It is necessary, however, that the botanical relationship between 

 these forms should be plainly set forth ; this can be best done by 

 comparing Gypripedium concolor with 0. niveum, the two extremes 

 of the series; thus, the yellow flowers with narrower upper sepal and 

 petals, compressed labellum, and sub-rhomboidal staminode of the 

 former clearly distinguish it from the latter, which has whits flowers 

 with broader and more rounded petals, much smaller lower sepal, 

 a more inflated labellum with a contracted aperture, and a sub- 

 reniform staminode ; moreover, the shorter scape, the shorter ovary 

 with larger bract, and the differently coloured leaves of G. concolor 

 afford further distinguishing characters between the two. Neverthe- 

 less all these differences are effectually bridged over by the variable 

 G. Godefroy ce and the recently introduced and scarcely less variable 

 G. bellatulum, in which all the organs we have enumerated above 

 are sometimes so modified, that some of their forms approach very 

 closely G. concolor, while others come so near G. niveum as to be 

 scarcely distinguishable from it. In the broader view taken by 

 science of the relationship subsisting between the members of a 

 genus, these Cypripedes are but varieties of one type, but in 

 horticulture they will continue to be regarded as distinct, and as 

 such they are treated in this work. 



Cultural Note. — The preference shown by Cypripediutn concolor for 

 limestone is manifested even under cultivation, for it unquestionably 

 thrives better on a substratum or drainage composed of nodules of lime- 

 stone than of broken crocks. In potting small plants, or plants that 

 require pots not larger than 4 — 5 inches in diameter, the pots should 

 be filled to about two-thirds of their depth with small pieces of lime- 



