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variety both as to tlie colour and size of their blossoms, though they are generally aJ 

 good enough to cultivate or to use as decorative plants ; hut in this particular specie 



or sub-species there are many that prove to be worthless, and unfortunately no one 

 'can tell whether individual plants will be good or bad until the flowers expand. The 

 good ones are really valuable, for there is no other Cattleya in which the lip and 

 throat are so richly coloured ; even in the small-flowered forms there is a portion of 

 this rich colouration to be found on the lip. 



Mr. Sander, the importer, has been no doubt deceived, and has suffered great 

 loss through importing a large quantity of plants, of which many have had to be 

 destroyed owing to their not being worth cultivating, since the bad forms cost as much 

 to import as the good ones ; while the collectors, when they do not see them in 

 bloom, do not suspect that such inferior forms can exist amongst the good ones. 

 We have seen other fine varieties, but none better than the one we have illustrated, 

 and which we received from the superb collection of E, P. Percival, Esq., of Birkdale, 

 Southport, after *whom it is named. We received the floAvers two years before we 

 ventured to submit the drawing to our readers, and to vouch for its accuracy. We 

 trust there may prove to be enough of the better forms imported to supply all who 

 may desire to possess the ^\Mit in its true character. 



Cattleya lahiata Percivaliana is, like labiata itself, an evergreen plant, with 

 clavate stems, ten inches in height, bearing dark green foliage, much resembling that 

 of C. Mossice. It is a plant of compact-growing habit, having the sepals and petals 

 suffused with a delicate magenta-rose colour, while the lip is of an intense magenta, 

 margined broadly with pale rosy purple, the throat being deep orange, veined mth 

 brownish purple ; the flowers have a most peculiar odour, similar to that of Lcelia 



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autumhalisy by which they can be at once identified. This Cattleya blooms during 

 the winter months, at the same time as C TriaiKB^ and lasts in bloom for two 

 or three weeks. 



Mr. Beddocs, the gardener at Birkdale, grows this plant in the same house 

 with Cattleya Trianw, of which Mr. Percival has a remarkably fine collection. The 

 house in which they are grown, is a good-sized one, and is so built and glazed 

 that there is plenty of light admitted. It is also a well ventilated structure, so 





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that plenty of water may be used about the house in their growing season, 

 when the temperature is right both inside and outside the house. This a most 

 important item in the successful cultivation of Orchids, as well as of other plants. 

 Mr. Percival has evidently studied this point, and good results have followed, as 

 will have been seen by those who have had the pleasure of visiting his collection, 

 while those who have not seen it should try to do so, and judge for themselves. 

 We find rough fibrous peat to suit this plant, which must have sufficient drainage, 

 and must be grown fully exposed to light at all times. Mr. Sander informs us 

 that the plants are found growing on rocks in the full sun, so that they are likely 

 to require an abundance of light and a ffood season of rest. 



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