CYPRIPEDIUM HYBRIDUM LATHAMIANUM eo. ¢ 
VAR. INVERSUM ‘Sar. 
CyPRIPEDIUM HyBR. LATHAMIANUM flowered carly in 1888, The seed parent was C. Spicerianum and the pollen parent C. villosum. It was 
described as like the flower of C. villosum, with the dorsal sepal of C. Spicerianum. The leaves are like those of the last-named species. The dorsal sepal is 
white, with a dark mid-line of purple, green at the base, with a few smaller purple lines. The petals are of a light greenish-ochre on the lower side, light 
brownish-ochre on the upper side, with a darker mid-line. The lip is much like that of C. villosum, though of a lighter greenish-ochre shade, while the 
staminode is also much like that of C. villosum. 
CyPRIPEDIUM HYBR. LATHAMIANUM, Rchb. f, in Gard. Chron., March 24, 1888, p. 360! Gartenflora, 1889, p. 528, fig. 79! Veitch Man. Orch. Pl., 
pt. 4, p. 88! Gard. Chron,, Feb. 15, 1890, p. 207! Feb. 22, 1890, p. 240! 
Cypripedium hybr. Hera, Rolfe, in Gard. Chron., Jan. 25, 1890, p. 105 / 
VAR. INVERSUM : This is the reverse cross of the above, C. villosum being the seed parent and C. Spicerianum the pollen parent. Its chief difference 
is that the dorsal sepal has more conspicuous and longer lines and dots of colour. 
VAR. INVERSUM, supra. R.A. Rolfe. 
C. SPICERIANUM. C. LATHAMIANUM INVERSUM. C. VILLOSUM. 
Icones analytic. Sepalum dorsale. Labellum et gynostemium a latere visum. Pctalum. Gynostemium a dorso visum. 
CyPpRIPEDIUM LATHAMIANUM was raised by Mr. W. B. Latham, Curator of the Botanical Gardens, Birmingham, and is a 
cross between Cypripedium Spicerianum and Cypripedium villosum, but the subject of our present note is the inversed 
cross, C. villosum being the seed parent and C. Spicerianum the pollen parent. This change has produced a much more 
beautiful flower, and is the result of the knowledge and zeal displayed by C. L. Ingram, Esq., Godalming, the editor and 
director of the ///ustrated London News. Cypripedium Spicerianum seems peculiarly well adapted for the purpose of 
hybridisation. The plant is of robust constitution, and the flower of great substance and fine shape and colour. 
Cypripedium Lathamianum inversum is a noble and fine addition to the now numerous family of hybrid Lady’s 
Slipper Orchids ; it is brighter, more pleasing, and altogether superior to the inversed cross, C. Lathamianum. The 
latter is described in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, March 24, 1888, by the late Prof. Reichenbach as follows :— 
“It is one of those hybrids which produce flowers with the characters of both parents. You might call the flowers 
those of Cypripedium villosum with the median sepal of Cypripedium Spicerianum. The leaves are stated to be exactly 
like those of the last-named species. The peduncle is ochre-coloured, covered with thin, short hairs. The bract is green, 
with the usual dark spots at the base, not equal to the ovary, that is light greenish-ochre-coloured, with reddish and 
white scattered hairs. The flower was a fac simile of that of Cypripedium villosum in its general shape and in its size. 
The median sepal, however, is rather that of C. Spicerianum, white, with a dark mid-line of purple, green at the base 
with a few lines, cuneate elliptic apiculate, with replicate sides. Petals light greenish-ochre-coloured outside, with a dark 
mid-line and brown margins undulate near the apex. Inside, the superior part is light ochre-coloured at the base, then 
dark brown to the top, greenish at the apex and lower sides. Dorsal sepal cuneate oblong, minutely acute, greenish, 
shorter than the lip, which is like that of C. villosum, though it is of a lighter, greenish-ochre colour. Staminode nearly 
square, as in C. villosum, with red hairs at the base, white borders, on the side, retuse and most obscurely apiculate, and 
with a green knob in front of the apex.” 
Mr. Fred. Boyle, in a late number of the ational Review, says :-— 
“The temptation to hybridise with the object of exchanging colours is peculiarly strong. It becomes yet stronger 
by reason of the delightful uncertainty which attends one’s efforts. So far as I have heard or read, no one has yet been 
able to offer a suggestion of any law which decides the result of combination. In a general way, both parents will be 
