CYPRIPEDIUM. 45 



Hongkong, and on the mountains near the opposite Chinese coast, 

 but where it is now become quite rare. As a species Cypri- 

 pedium purpuratum is pretty and distinct, and interesting as being 

 the third in chronological order of introduction of the coriaceous 

 Cypripedes cultivated in European gardens. 



0. Rothschildianum. 



"Leaves more than 2 feet long and 2| — 3 inches wide, green, glossy, 

 strong. Peduncles reddish, with a few short hairs, three- (or more) flowered. 

 Bract less than half the length of the glabrous ovary, oblong-ligulate, 

 tridentate at the apex, pale yellowish green with blackish lines and a 

 ciliate margin. Flowers equal in size to those of Cypripedium prcestans 

 (glanduliferum) ; upper sepal cuneate-oblong, acute, yellowish with 

 numerous longitudinal dark, almost blackish stripes, white at the borders ; 

 loAver sepal nearly equal to the upper one, but shorter ; petals linear, 

 undulate at the base, yellowish green with dark longitudinal lines and 

 dark blotches at the base ; lip like that of C. Stonei and C. prcestans 

 (glanduliferum), cinnamon-coloured with ochre border at the aperture. 

 Staminode beak-like, broad at the base and narrowed at the apex where 

 it is hairy."— H. G. Rchb. f. in Gard. Chron. III. s. 3 (1887), p. 457. 



Cypripedium Kothschildianum, Kchb. in Gard. Chron. loc. cit. and p. 554. C. 

 neo-guineense, Linden, fide L'Hort. internat. (Societe anonyme) in Gard. Chron. III. 

 s. 3 (1888), p. 505 (Advt.). 



Up to the time of going to press we have had no opportunity 

 of seeing this remarkable species, only one plant, so far . as we are 

 aware, having flowered in England since its first introduction ; the 

 above description by Professor Reichenbach has therefore been copied 

 from the Gardeners' Chronicle at the places quoted above, and where 

 this Cypripede is said to be "one of the most astonishing introduc- 

 tions ever seen." The merit of introducing it is assigned, by the 

 same authority, to Messrs. Sander and Co., of St. Albans, but 

 disputed by the Director of L' Horticulture internationale (Societe 

 anonyme), Pare Leopold, Brussels, who affirms that it was 

 " Mr. J. Linden who introduced it first, from New Guinea, in 

 May, 1887, and flowered it in January, 1888,"* when it received 

 the name of Cypripedium neo-guineense, but which, not having 

 been published at the time, must sink as a synonym of that 

 under which it is described above. It is dedicated to Baron 

 Ferdinand de Rothschild, M.P., of Waddesdon Manor, near Aylesbury, 



* See Gard. Chron. III. s. 3 (1888), p. 505 (Advt.). 



