CYPRIPEDIUM. 39 



0. Mastersianum. 



Leaves oblong or oval-oblong, acute, 8 — 10 inches long, deep green 

 with pale green tesselations. Scapes 12 — 15 inches high, deep purple, 

 very hairy, one-flowered ; bract short. Flowers 3 inches across vertically ; 

 upper sepal sub-orbicular with ciliolate margin, bright green with a broad 

 yellow-white border, and deep green veins ; lower sepal ovate, acute, much 

 smaller, pale green ; petals spreading horizontally, spathulate with ciliolate 

 margins, brownish red, paler towards the base where there are numerous 

 small black-purple warts along the superior margin and along the mid- 

 vein ; lip sub-cylindric much inflated, pale reddish brown, the infolded 

 lobes greenish brown spotted with dull purple. Staminode horseshoe- 

 shaped, with acute incurved cusps on the apical side. 



Cypripedium Mastersianum, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. XII. (1879), p. 102. 

 We find nothing recorded of the habitat of this very distinct 

 Cypripede beyond the statement that it is of " Sundaic origin/' 

 and although Professor Reichenbach adds that he was indebted 

 to us for the materials for description, the plant was not imported 

 by us, but was received from the Royal Gardens at Kew. It is 

 named in compliment to Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, F.R.S., the genial 

 and accomplished editor of the Gardeners' Chronicle. 



0. niveum. 



Leaves oblong, 4 — 6 inches long, dark dull green above, with greyish 



green spots, deep lurid purple beneath. Scapes erect, 6 — 8 inches high, 



1 — 2 flowered, with two small downy bracts sheathing the base of the 



ovary, of which the posterior one is the largest. Flowers 3 inches 



across, white, more or less dotted with purple towards the base of the 



upper sepal and petals ; * sepals and petals ciliolate, the dorsal sepal 



orbicular, pointed, concave in front, keeled and stained with reddish 



purple behind, the lower sepal ovate-oblong, much smaller ; petals 



spreading, slightly deflexed, broadly oblong, obtuse, but sometimes 



nearly sub-orbicular ; lip ovoid, with a contracted mouth. Staminode 



sub-reniform tending to oblong, yellow bordered with white. 



Cypripedium niveum, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. 1869, p. 1038. Id. Xen. Orch. II. 

 p. 155 (1870). Bot. Mag. t. 5922 (1871). lllus. hort. XVIII. t. 83 (1871). 

 Fl. Mag. 1871, t. 543. Jennings' Orch. t. 28. Gard. Chron. XIX. (1883), p. 16, 

 19 icon. xyl. Sander's Eeichenbachia I. t. 34. The Garden IX. (1876), t. 23. 

 C. concolor niveum, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. loc. cit. 



The first appearance of Cypripedium niveum in this country was an 

 agreeable surprise. In 1868 we received from Moulmein a consign- 

 ment of plants of a Cypripedium supposed to be C. concolor, but 



* The spotting is very variable ; although generally confiued to the basal halt* of the 

 segments, it is sometimes more diffuse, rare instances have occurred in which the spots 

 are arranged in lines along the veins of the dorsal sepal and petals. 



