CYPRIPEDIUM CHARLESWORTHII. 
[PraTe 508]. 
Native of the East Indies. 
_ Terrestrial. Acaulescent, tufted. Leaves distichous, oblong-lanceolate, acute, six 
to seven inches in length, about one inch broad, deep green, lower surface streaked and 
spotted with purple-brown as far as or heyond the middle. Scapes short, one-flowered. 
Sheaths pale green, beautifully spotted with purplish brown. Flowers three and a half 
inches across the longest diameter, i.e., from tip of dorsal to tip of anterior sepal; 
dorsal sepal broadly obovate, very large, measuring two inches in height, and over 
two inches in width, of a beautiful rosy purple marbled with white at the apex 
and lower margins, veined and tessellated with a deeper hue of rosy purple, which 
becomes intenser towards the base; anterior sepal greenish yellow on the inner 
surface, faintly veined longitudinally, the outer surface veined with rosy purple; 
petals obovate-lanceolate, yellowish green, covered with purple-brown veins, which 
anastomose towards the apex; lip very small compared with the other parts, 
bronzy yellow, wide at the aperture, with an acute sinus in the anterior margin. 
Staminode very striking, porcelain-white, with a yellowish protuberance. 
Cypripepium CHarLeswortail, Rolfe, Orchid Review, 1893, i., p. 303. Journal 
of Horticulture, 1893, xxvii., p. 307, fig. 43. Gardeners’ Chronicle, 3rd series, 1893, 
Xiv., p. 487, fig, 70. Orchid Review, 1898, i, p. 855, with plate (frontispiece). 
Gardeners’ Magazine, 1893, p. 750, with woodeut. Williams’ Orchid Grower's 
Manual, 7th ed., p. 244.  Lindenia, x., t. 443. Gartenfora, 1895, t. 1410. 
No new Cypripedium has caused such a sensation since the introduction of 
C. Spicerianum, when a plant was sold for 100 guineas in Stevens’ Auction 
Rooms. Our present subject cannot, however, claim to be a high-priced plant, 
as so large have the importations been of it, that good plants can now be purchased 
for a few shillings each. It was first introduced in 1893 by Messrs. Charlesworth 
and Co., of Bradford, and was by them exhibited before the Orchid Committee of 
the Royal Horticultural Society in September of the same year, when it was 
deservedly awarded a First Class Certificate. In habit of growth it resembles C. 
Spicerianum. The dorsal sepal is of great size, and being of such a lively rose 
colour should be of great service to the hybridizer. 
Cypripedium Charlesworthii is of compact tufted habit, with deep green leaves, 
having the under surface marked with purple. The individual flowers are about 
three and a half inches in diameter, and the great beauty of the flowers lies in the 
dorsal sepal, which is broadly obovate, about two inches across, of a beautiful 08! 
purple colour, white towards the apex. It flowers during the autumn months, and 
continues in perfection for a long period. There is no doubt a great future 
