CATTLEYA SKINNERI ALBA. 



[Plate 112.] 



Mative of Costa Rica. 



terete 



Epiphytal. Stems obovatc-oblong, compressed, fiuTowerl, attenuated beluw into a 



nted stalk. Leav 



sn green, spreading, leatlici^-, oblonor-obtiise. snb 

 eifyht-fiowered, issuing from a short oblong 



o 



doptli 



emarginate. Scape six to eight-llowered, issuing from a short oblong spathe. luuircrs 

 exceedingly chaste and elegant, pure white in colour, measui-ing f( 

 and breadth; sepals plane, lanceolate, acute, recurved at the extreme tip, Imlf an 

 inch in breadth, pure white ; petals ovate-obtupo, one and a quarter inch in breadth, 

 sligiitly undulated towards the tips, also pure white; Up w]iit-o, the liasnl j>:irt very 

 closely and narrowly rolled around the column, and there shijwing oxteilorly oji tin' 

 lower side a slight stain of rose, which, whm 

 blotch, the front lobe roundish renifor 



smal 1 



ros\ 



n. Coluiiui white, chivate, about Mil iix-li Ion*?. 



Cattleya Skinneri alba, Relchetibach fd.. Gardeners Chronicle, x.s., vii., 810. 



The fine 



genus Cattleya is becoming more and more interesting and vabial*!*' 

 every year, since many new forms and colours are continually coming before us. 

 We feel great pleasure in being able to figure this chaste and lovely varii'ty of C. 

 Skinneri, which has pure snow white flowers. It is quite astonishing to find that 

 white forms of so many different kinds of Cattleya are being Ijruught liouic by our 

 energetic collectors. Many, indeed, have turned out to be white-flowered when we 



u 



L 



of the fact on the part of those tli.-it 



knowledge 



have bloomed them, without any 

 have collected them, the reason being that often they do not find them in bL»om, 

 and it is, of course, difficult to know their colours unless they are in flower ; monuivcr, 

 it sometimes occurs that there are not many of the pure white forms. TJierc may lie 

 others of a rosy hue, and it is frequently the case that seedlings come internieili;ite 



in colour. 



forms of other 



We hope our collectors may 



be fortunate enough to 



find 



pure 



white 



.' species in bloom, as they an.' so charming. 



The variation of colour 



which occurs in some of the species in their native countr}-, is no doubt due to 

 the intervention of insects, the action being just the same as that of the hyluidizer 

 in our plant-houses. 



We bloomed a very fine pure white Cattleya Skinneri, an iinport(;d plant, «oine 

 years ago, and we have since seen several white varieties, but the figure we now pnblislj 

 was taken from a plant in the collection of Sir Nathaniel de Rothsehild, of Tring Hark. 

 The spike, as may be seen from our plate, Wiis a good one, with well-expande.l 



blossoms, not 



charming rosy purple, and 



quite so large as in the parent Cattleya 



Skinneri, whicli is of a most 



one 



of the most distinct and showy of Orchids. 



Th ore 



