show plant, its lasting qualities being a great recommendation to it, both from an 
exhibition and decorative point of view. 
The plant is a native of Borneo, and was introduced to this country by the 
Messrs. Low, of Clapton. It produces dark green foliage of about twelve or in some 
of the varieties we have seen as much as fifteen inches in length. From the 
eentre of this tuft of leaves the flower-spikes are produced and rise to a height of 
about two feet, each bearing three or four of its large slipper-shaped blossoms, 
which are the most exact representations of a shoe or slipper of those of any * 
the species, and most completely justify the trivial name of the eee Lady's 
Slipper. The sepals are large, white, striped on the veins or nerves, with dark 
purple, and tinged with yellow; the petals are five inches in length, and are yellowish, 
streaked and blotched with purple; and the lip is large and of a dull reddish- 
purple, veined with deeper purple-red. It is of free-blooming habit, and when the 
growths are strong it produces a flower-spike from each crown, but it takes some 
considerable time to complete its growth before it sends forth its spikes ; indeed, It: 
begins to grow soon after its blossoms have faded. The plant having no thick 
fleshy bulbs from which to derive support, requires a more continuous supply of moisture 
than many other Orchids, The roots are coarse and fleshy, and should in consequent 
be supplied with a stronger soil than is required by some of the other kinds. We 
find it to thrive best in good fibrous loam, with a small quantity of charcoal, and 
a little leaf-mould or peat, all being well mixed together, giving the pots good 
drainage, but not so much as is required in the case of Cattleyas, for example. 
As it is a strong rooting plant, it is best grown in a pot, and should be a little 
elevated above the rim. We have found the East India house to supply the most 
suitable atmospheric conditions in which to cultivate it; here it should be placed on 
the side-tables near the light, but out of the sun. The finest specimen we have seen 
exhibited was staged by Mr. Child, gardener to Mrs. Torr, Garbrand Hall, Ewell, 
Surrey, at the South Kensington Show, in 1878. . 
There is a very distinct variety of this plant called Cypripediwm Stoner 
platytenium, of which a figure has been lately published in Mr. Warner's Select 
Orchidaceous Plants, 3 ser., t. 16. Of this form, living plants were till recently only 
to be found in the collection of John Day, Esq., but they were distributed when Leese 
collection was recently dispersed by auction sales, and were purchased at high prices 
by Baron Schréder and Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., in whose collections they 
may now be seen. This variety is just like C. Stonei in its growth, and the 
flowers are closely similar, the chief difference being, that the petals are shorter and 
broader, amd resemble those of C. superbiens. 
