66 



Garden and Forest. 



[February 5, 1890. 



There are many very fine varieties of this species. One of 

 the least known and, at the same time, one of the most dis- 

 tinct, is that known, as Amabilis, which first flowered at the 

 beginning of last year with Messrs. Sander & Co., St. Albans. 

 The sepals and petals are of the clearest white, occasionally 

 flushed with rose. The lip is tinged with yellow, and has 

 a mauve-purple blotch on the white mid-lobe, while the 

 side-lobes are very 

 conspicuousl y 

 streaked with crim- 

 son. L. anceps 

 Barkeriana is a very 

 old but rare form, 

 having been intro- 

 duced by Messrs. 

 Low & Co. in 1837. 

 The flowers are of 

 a deep rose-purple 

 color, with narrow 

 petals and lip. The 

 variety Dawsoni is 

 almost universally 

 acknowledged to be 

 the rinest form of 

 this s'pecies. The 

 sepals and petals 

 are of the "purest 

 white, the latter be- 

 ing remarkably 

 broad, and the front 

 lobe of the lip has 

 a blotch of magenta* 

 purple in front of 

 the yellow disc. L. 

 anceps Sanderiana 



is something like 



this, and is, by 



some, preferred to 



it. It flowers very 



freely. The sepals 



and petals are pure 



white and much 



larger than in the 



ordinary L. anceps. 



The side-lobes of 



the lip are stained 



w i t h yellow and 



streaked with dark 



purple, and the 



front - lobe has a 



magenta-purple 



blotch shading off 



into white at the 



edges. L. anceps 



Ballantineana ap- 

 peared for the first 



time this year in 



Messrs. Sander's 



nursery. It is very 



beautiful, being re- 



markable for its 



large flowers ; the 



sepals and petals 



(the latter being 



very broad) are 



tipped with rose, 



and the front lobe 



of the lip is of a 



much darker ma- 

 genta-purple than 



any form yet 



known. Veitchiana 



is a lovely variety 



with white sepals 



and petals, and a 



large mauve-purple 



blotch on the lip. 

 The form Perciva- 



liana has white sepals and petals flushed with lilac. The 

 side-lobes of the lip are deep rose-purple in front with darker 

 purple streaks on each side of the yellow crest. In front of 

 this is a white area and then the deep magenta-purple front 

 lobe. There are many other forms, such as alba, vestahs, 

 Hilliana, etc., but it is almost impossible to depict their beauty 

 and distinctness from each other in writing. 



To the now obsolete firm of Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney, 

 is due the introduction of L. anceps to cultivation in 1835, and 

 Messrs. Low & Co., of Clapton, were not far behind, as they 

 soon afterward imported it. It is a native of Mexico, and I 

 think I cannot give a better idea of its surroundings in that 

 country than by quoting from Mr. Kienast-Zolly, of Zurich, 

 who, writing in the Gardeners' Chronicle in March, 1887, says: 



"During my long 

 residence in Mexico 

 1 have many a time 

 found plants of L. 

 anceps growing in 

 my Coffee planta- 

 tion in the neigh- 

 borhood of Cordo- 

 va, in the state of 

 Vera Cruz. I al- 

 ways met with them 

 on the borders of 

 the virgin forests, 

 growing on the 

 trunks of trees and 

 on the very slender 

 branches exposed 

 to a powerful sun 

 and to strong winds, 

 often also clinging 

 to the rocks covered 

 with the remains of 

 leaves and moss 

 under the same 

 conditions. During 

 the rainy season — 

 from May to Octo- 

 ber — these plants 

 are daily drenched 

 by the torrents of 

 rain, of which they 

 experience the full 

 force, often for five 

 consecutive hours, 

 and are thoroughly 

 wet throughout the 

 night. About six 

 o'clock in the morn- 

 ing a sharp and 

 fresh wind, coming 

 from the highest 

 peaks of ' the Cor- 

 dilleras — many of 

 which are capped 

 with perpetual 

 snow — begins to 

 dry the plants, a 

 work which the , 

 burning sun com- 

 pletes, pitilessly 

 shining on them for 

 several hours untilr 

 the daily storm 

 drenches them 

 afresh. Under 

 these conditions L. 

 anceps grows with 

 extraordinary vigor, 

 and flowers about 

 the end of October 

 or November; just 

 at the time when 

 the new bulbs ar- 

 rive at their perfect 

 development. 

 Some weeks after 

 the rainy season is 

 over the newest 

 bulbs become firm 

 and ripe, so as to 

 prepare for a 

 thorough and necessary rest, which lasts until March, when 

 the new growths appear." 



Mr. Kienast-Zolly further remarks that L. anceps is widely 



distributed along the eastern side of the Cordilleras, from 



Jalapa southward to Orizaba, where many varieties are to be 



met with, and also in some places along the Pacific coast. 



From the above remarks on this species in its natural con- 



Fig. 15. — Picea Bieweriana. — See page 63 



