72 CALANTHE. 



The variety Regnieri is a comparatively recent introduction from 

 Cochin-China by M. Regnier, of Paris, whose first plants were 

 offered for sale at Stevens' Rooms in the spring of 1883 ; it is 

 found to be the most variable of all the vestita forms as regards 

 the colour of the flowers. The specific name, vestita, "'clothed/' was 

 suggested by the long shaggy hairs that clothe the flowering stems. 

 The flowering season of Galanthe vestita and its varieties extends 

 from the beginning of December to the end of February in the 

 following order : first the type and its sub -varieties, then Turneri, 

 and lastly Regnieri, but with the last two the order is sometimes 

 inverted, and sometimes their flowering is contemporaneous. 



HYBRID CALANTHES. 



The crossing of Calanthes was among the earliest experiments in 

 the hybridisation of orchids made by Dominy, who succeeded, iu 1856, 

 in flowering Galanthe Dominii, which he had raised from G. Masuca 

 X G. farcata, a species that has long since disappeared from cul- 

 tivation. This was followed by G. Veitchii, raised by him from 

 G. rosea x G. vestita, which flowered for the first time in 1859- 

 It is a curious fact that notwithstanding the high estimation in which 

 G. Veitchii has always been held by horticulturists as a winter- 

 flowering orchid, a period of twenty years elapsed before another 

 hybrid was added to the group to which it belongs, the next acqui- 

 sition being G. Sedenii, raised by the indefatigable hybridist after 

 whom it is named. By this time, however, muling among Calanthes 

 of the VESTiTiB section was being undertaken by many amateur culti- 

 vators, notably by Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., Mr. Norman Cookson, 

 Mr. Charles Winn and others, so that since the first flowering 

 of G. SSedenii in 1878, hybrids and crosses have appeared in 

 almost embarrassing profusion. Nor has the beauty of the seedlings 

 and the interest attending the raising of them alone contributed to 

 bring about these results ; the comparatively short period in which 

 the seedlings can be brought into flower, has afforded a stimulus 

 to the same end. The capsule of Galanthe usually ripens in three 

 to four months, and the seed takes from two to three months more 

 to germinate ; the seedlings, under favourable circumstances, will 

 flower in the third or fourth year, one of the shortest periods known 

 in the experience of orchid hybridisation. 



