SOME KESULTS OE THE H YlUilDlSATION 01-' ORCHIDS. 139 



have beeu obtained, aud not only so but even bigeneric hybrids or 

 liybrids between species of different genera are on the increase. 



The hybridisation of orchids in its scientific aspect has been ah-eady 

 touched upon.* Its history and progress may now be traced and 

 some of the most important results enumerated. 



One of the first, probably the first to attempt to raise orchids 

 from seed produced by the cross fertilisation of different species was 

 Dean Herbert, who has obtained an enduring name in science for his 

 masterly systematic arrangement of the Amaeyllidej;;, and in horticulture 

 for having been the first to raise hybrid Narcissi aud other hybrids 

 in the genera included in the family of plants he so long and so 

 assiduously studied. In a paper " On Hybridisation among Vegetables " 

 published in the Journal of the Horticultural Society of London for 

 1847t occurs the following remarkable passage : — 



" Cross-breeding among orchidaceous plants would perhaps lead to very 

 startUng results ; but unfortunately they are not easily raised from seed. 

 I have however raised Bletia, Cattleya, Herminium monorcMs and Oplirys 

 aranifera from seed ; and if I were not during the greater part of the 

 year absent from the place where my plants are deposited I think I 

 could succeed in obtaining crosses in that Order. I had well-formed 

 pods last spring of Orchis by pollen of Ophrys as well as of other 

 species of Orchis which had been forced ; and if I had remained on 

 the spot I think I should have obtained some cross-bred orchidaceous 

 seed. An intelligent gardener may do much for science by attempts 

 of this kind if he keeps accurate notes of what he attempts and does 

 not jump at immature conclusions." 

 Two years later an article "On Growing Orchids from Seeds'' was 

 contributed to the Gardeners' Chronicle by the late Dr. Moore, Curator 

 of the Royal Botanic Garden at Glasnevin.+ Fn this article he states 

 that within the five years previous to its publication, seedlings of 

 the following species were raised in the orchid house at Glasnevin, 

 namely, Epidendrum elongatum, E. crassifolium, Cattleya Forlesii and 

 Phatus (Thunia) alhvs, the seeds of which all vegetated freely. He 

 gives no information respecting the fertilisation of the plants from 

 which these orchids were raised, but it may be inferred from the 

 tenor of the article that they were not hybrids but had beeu 



* See \yd'^t' 81*. 



t Vol. II. p. 104. 



:J: Gard. Chron. 1849, p. 549. 



