CYPRIPEDIUM. 71 



ago, at our Chelsea Nursery, and was distributed in 1871 ; it is appro- 

 priately named G. Harrisianum, in compliment to the late Dr. Harris, of 

 Exeter, who first suggested to Dominy the feasibility of hybridising and 

 raising orchids from seed. This was followed at short intervals by G. 

 Dominianum and G. vexillarium. The first seedling raised by Seden is 

 the well-known hybrid that bears his name, and which was distributed 

 in 1874 ; this has been followed up to the present time by an un- 

 interrupted series of results which, apart from successes obtained in 

 other genera, has secured for the raiser's name a permanent place 

 amongst British hybridists. 



We may here note a few interesting facts that have been elicited during 

 the course of our experience in the crossing of Cypripedes: — Cypripedium 

 Sedenii was obtained from two crosses, G. Schlimii x C. longifolium and 

 the same two vice versa : no tangible difference was discernible between 

 the plants raised from the two separate crosses ; they agreed in habit, 

 foliage, colour of flower, in fact in every particular. No similar result 

 has been obtained by us among Cypripedes ; not only do the seedlings 

 raised from a vice versa cross between the same two species vary from 

 those produced from the first cross, but also it is not an unusual occur- 

 rence for the seedlings obtained from a single cross, especially if one of 

 the plants is itself a hybrid, to vary considerably, inter se, but the 

 variability is restricted chiefly, if not entirely, to the colour of the 

 flowers ; a conspicuous instance of this is seen in G. aenanthum (Rchb.), 

 G. Thibaidianum (Echb.), C. Galatea (Rolfe), G. Orestes (Veitch), all of 

 which were obtained from the hybrid C. Harrisianum x G. insigne 

 Maulei. "We have on the other hand an instance of a species and its 

 variety, each being crossed by a second species, both crosses producing 

 like but not identical results, thus G. longifolium X G Schlimii produced 

 G. Sedenii (Rchb.), and G. longifolium var. Hartwegii (Eoezlii) X G. 

 Schlimii produced G. porphyreum (Rchb.) ; the two are scarcely distin- 

 guishable except, as might be expected, the last named is the more 

 robust of the two, and its flowers of a somewhat brighter pink. It 

 need scarcely be noted that this fact alone offers sufficient justification 

 for the reduction of G. Hartwegii (Lindl.) Roezlii (Rchb.) to its proper 

 rank.* 



In their vegetation the hybrids of Cypripedium are more or less inter- 

 mediate between the two parents, but it is not an unusual occurrence 

 for the form of the vegetative organs of one parent to greatly pre- 

 ponderate in the progeny, or for the progeny to be more robust in habit 

 than either parent (e.g., Gypripedium grande, G. selligerum majus). 

 It is also worthy of a remark, from a cultural point of view, that 

 when one parent is a weakly plant and difficult to manage, the progeny 

 is not thereby affected ; thus G. Schlimii is always considered to be 



* See also " Hybridisation of Orchids," by H. J. Veitch, Orchid Conference Report, 1885. 

 Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society. 



