354 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 393. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



Notes on Orchids. 



Odontoglossum Wattianum.— Messrs. F. Sander & Co. ex- 

 hibited a fine example of this plant at the last meeting of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society, when it was awarded a 

 first-class certiticate. It was first described by Mr. Rolfe 

 in 1890, when it flowered for the first time at St. Albans. 

 Mr. Rolfe supposed it to be a natural hybrid between Odon- 

 toglossum luteo-purpureum and O. Lindleyanum, but it 

 may with just as much reason be called a sport from the 

 former, which it resembles in general characters, differing 

 mainly in the shape of the lip, which is nearly two inches 

 long, elongated, the margin fringed and the color creamy 

 white, with a central blotch and numerous small spots of 

 rose-purple ; the petals and sepals are deep yellow, with 

 bars and blotches of chocolate-brown. The plant shown 

 bore a spike of fourteen fine flowers. Whether it be ac- 

 cepted as a species or a hybrid, or a variety, it is a hand- 

 some Orchid and fully deserved the distinction conferred 

 upon it by the Royal Horticultural Society. 



Cattleya Eros. — This is a new hybrid of Veitchian origin, 

 its parents being Cattleya Walkeriana and C. Mossife, be" 

 tween which it is remarkably intermediate. A plant of it 

 was exhibited last week and obtained a first-class certifi- 

 cate. The pseudo-bulbs are short and plump, and the 

 flowers are as large as those of an ordinary C. Mossiae, and 

 similar in color, except in the purplish maroon marking on 

 the lip and the almost total absence of gold veins, so promi- 

 nent a character in C. Mossite. The lip also resembles 

 C. Walkeriana in its spreading, almost flattened form. 



Cattleya Fowleri. — A new hybrid raised by Messrs. F. 

 Sander & Co. and named by Dr. Kranzlin in compliment to 

 Mr. G. Gurney Fowler, vi'ho is now its owner, and who 

 exhibited it last week, when it obtained a first-class certifi- 

 cate. It is the result of crossing Cattleya Hardyana with 

 C. Leopoldii. In pseudo-bulbs and leaf it resembles Lti'lia 

 elegans, while the flowers are as large as those of C. Har- 

 dyana, their color being mauve-purple, the broad wavy 

 lip being intense violet-purple. It is a distinct and hand- 

 some addition to hybrid Cattleyas. 



Phaltenoi'sis Ludde-violacea. — This is another addition to 

 the hybrid Phala?nopsis raised by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, 

 its parents, indicated by the name, being P. Luddemanni- 

 ana and P. violacea. It was shown last month at a meet- 

 ing of the Royal Horticultural Society, who awarded it a 

 first-class certificate. In habit and foliage it resembles the 

 first-named species, while the flowers, although like that 

 species in shape, are larger, and colored rose-purple, barred 

 with a darker shade, the lip being yellow at the base, deep 

 crimson in front, and more like that of P. violacea. It is 

 not as attractive as some of the Veitchian hybrids in this 

 genus, the best of which, so far, is that named F. L. 

 Ames. 



MicROSTYLis MACROCHiLA. — Some of the many species of 

 this genus have a place among garden Orchids because of 

 the pretty colors of their leaves. One of the best of them 

 is Microstylis Scottii, a Malayan species, figured and de- 

 scribed by Sir Joseph Hooker in The Botanical Magazine, t. 

 7268, but a better even than it is M. macrochila, which was 

 introduced to Kew and elsewhere as M. Scottii, from 

 which, however, it differs in having larger leaves colored 

 yellow-brown, with a paler margin, and in its much larger 

 flowers, and especially in its large, flat, red-purple, shining 

 lip. It is easily grown in a tropical house. 



Dendrobium bracteosum. — This is an attractive species, 

 not large in flower, but exceptional in the distinctness of 

 its colors. It is a native of New Guinea, whence it was 

 introduced about five years ago, when it was called Den- 

 drobium chrysolabrum by Mr. Rolfe in ignorance of the 

 fact that Reichenbach had described it the year before 

 under the above name. It has roundish pseudo-bulbs a 

 foot long, leaves after the style of D. Lowii, and flowers in 

 short crowded racemes produced from the nodes on the 

 mature leafless pseudo-bulbs. There are about twenty 



flowers in each raceme, and each flower consists of five 

 equal lanceolate segments three-quarters of an inch long, 

 and colored rosy mauve ; the lip is small, erect, folded 

 over the column at the base, and colored bright orange. 

 A plant of it has been in flower at Kew for a month or 

 more, and is still quite fresh. There are three racemes of 

 flowers upon one of the pseudo-bulbs. It is more like 

 some of the Erias than the general run of Dendrobi- 

 ums. 



Dendrobium PnALiENOPSis hololeuca. — A pure white 

 variety of D. Phalaenopsis was certificated under the 

 above name at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, when a small plant bearing a four-flowered spike 

 was shown by an amateur residing in Bath. It differs 

 from the variety alba in having absolutely no color of any 

 shade beyond a tinge of buff at the base of the column, 

 whereas in alba the lip is lined with rose-purple. It is 

 surprising how great a range of variation this species of 

 Dendrobium has revealed, both in the size and form of its 

 pseudo-bulbs and in the size and coloration of the flowers ; 

 in the latter there is every gradation from the purest 

 white to the darkest maroon crimson. 



Dendrobium cruentum was described by Reichenbach in 

 1884 from a plant flowered by Messrs. Sander & Co., who 

 have again recently imported it from the Malay peninsula. 

 It is now in flower at Kew. The pseudo-bulbs and leaves 

 resemble those of D. Lowianum, while the flowers are like 

 those ofCymbidium giganteumin shape, but only about half 

 the size ; they are greenish-yellow, except the large reflexed 

 lip, which is white with a wart-like crest and lines and 

 spots of bright red. It is worth a place among the purely 

 interesting, not showy, garden Orchids. 



SoBRALiA Lovvii. — A plant of this elegant little species is 

 now in flower at Kew. It was first introduced about five 

 years ago by Messrs. H. Low & Co., Clapton, and it has 

 since become a favorite with growers of Sobralias. It 

 belongs to the same group as S. sessilis, the stems being 

 only about a foot long, clothed with elegant dark green 

 recurved lanceolate leaves of rather leathery texture, and 

 bearing flowers quite as large as those of S. sessilis, and 

 colored uniform bright purple. It is a native of New 

 Granada. 



Cypripedium Massaianum superbum. — This is an improve- 

 ment upon the hybrid raised by Messrs. Sander & Co. from 

 C. superciliare and C. Rothschildianum, and named by 

 them in 1893 C. Massaianum simply. The new form has 

 larger flowers and is more attractive in color. It partakes 

 much of the character of C. Rothschildianum, but the 

 dorsal sepal is white and green with purple lines, and the 

 petals are broad and hairy, while the lip is of a bronzy 

 purple color. It was shown by Messrs. Sander & Co. last 

 week, and obtained a first-class certificate. 



Vanda c(erulea. — This is one of the most variable of 

 Orchids in the size and shade of color of its flowers. One 

 of the largest known is one which was shown at the last 

 meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society by Mr. Gurney 

 Fowler, and obtained a first-class certificate. It was a 

 grand specimen, bearing four spikes and thirty-seven 

 flowers, each of which measured four and a half inches in 

 diameter, the color being an exceptionally clear azure-blue, 

 with paler marbling, and the lip a rich violet-blue. The 

 usual size of the flowers is about three inches in diameter. 

 A peculiar character observable in this Vanda is the 

 increase in the size of the flowers and change in the color 

 which take place after they have opened ; thus, a flower 

 which on first expanding measured an inch and a half 

 across and was colored lilac-rose, would, when finally 

 developed, be three inches across and of a clear blue 

 color, the purple hue being confined to the small lip. 

 Although an old garden Orchid, this is still far from com- 

 mon in collections, as it does not always thrive under 

 ordinary cultivation. It likes plenty of water, light and 

 air in an intermediate house while growing, that is from 

 February to October, its usual time of flowering. 



London. W. Waison. 



