CATTLEYA MARDELLII. 
[Pate 287.] 
Garden H ybrid. 
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs oblong-obtuse, compressed, four to six inches in length, 
enveloped in a white sheath, and one to two-leaved. Leaves some six inches long 
and nearly two inches broad, leathery in texture, and deep green in colour. Scape 
terminal, issuing from between a very small sheath, erect, three-flowered, individual] 
flowers some five inches across; sepals ligulate-acute; petals rhomboid, much broader 
than the sepals and waved at the edges, all bright rosy-magenta, slightly paler towards 
the base. Lip three-lobed, lateral-lobes spreading (not rolled over the column), 
side-lobes soft-magenta shading into white towards the centre, bearing a few 
radiating streaks of brown on the sides, and ornamented in the throat with a stripe 
of bright yellow; middle-lobe large, obovate, and crisp at the edge, rich bright 
magenta-purple, with a broad streak of bright yellow along the centre, which passes 
into the throat. Column broadly boat-shaped, suffused with bright magenta. 
CarrteyA Marve, Reichenbach fil., new hybrid, Gardeners’ Chronicle, v. xi., 
p- 234, 1879; Floral Magazine, 1881, t. 437; Williams’ Orchid-Grower's Manual, 
6 ed., p. 189. | 
This splendid hybrid Cattleya originated in the establishment of Messrs. J. Veitch 
& Sons, and is another of the many triumphs of Mr. Seden, several examples of whose 
skill, as a hybridiser, we have already had the pleasure to portray in previous 
numbers of the Orcam Axtpum. ‘The wonderful achievements of Mr. Seden have 
tempted many others to essay their hand in the same line, and there is every 
reason to hope that many startling novelties are still to be obtained by those who 
continue this work with patience and perseverance, without which, indeed, success 
need not be hoped for, as many Orchids, especially Cattleyas, are a long time from 
the germination of the seed before they attain sufficient strength to produce flowers. 
In order to obtain new forms and admixtures of colours and markings, it is not 
sufficient that the crosses are made promiscuously, but judgment and thought must 
be exercised in selecting the parent plants; this, however, should not be very difficult 
of accomplishment now that we have so many fine Orchids at hand to select from 
which flower at the same time. In a state of nature Orchids are fertilised 
promiscuously by insects, through whose agency, so many hybrids have been produced, 
of which numerous examples have appeared amongst recent importations. This natural 
crossing and intercrossing has been in operation for countless ages, and will doubtless 
continue until the end of time, so that there is little danger of the present 
generation of Orchid collectors exhausting nature’s store. For the opportunity of 
