CYPRIPEDIUM GRATRIXIANUM. 
[PuaTE 524. | 
Garden Hybrid, 
Terrestrial. Leaves ovate-lanceolate acute, four and a-half inches long, one and 
a-half inches broad, light green tessellated with dark green, densely spotted with red ~ 
at the back. Scapes one-flowered. Flowers three and a-half inches across; 
dorsal sepal broad and flat, the acute apex slightly incurved, ground colour rosy 
purple, becoming paler towards the median zone, which is suffused with a yellow 
tinge at the base, the whole margined with pure white; six or seven converging purple 
veins occur on each side of the median purple bar, and a few rows of dark purple spots 
are scattered over the basal half; petals broad, of a purplish rose ground colour, 
which becomes paler towards the median part, changing into a yellowish tint at the 
base, the whole densely covered with smaller or larger dots of deep purple, mostly 
arranged in longitudinal rows, becoming especially concentrated at the base; lip 
large, well formed, of a rich deep purple veined with black-purple, and shading off 
into yellowish green at the back. Staminode large, flat, dark purple. 
CYPRIPEDIUM GRaATRIXxIANUM, Williams, supra. 
The subject of our plate is, without exaggeration, one of the finest and 
handsomest hybrid Cypripediums that have been produced of late. The number of 
crosses effected in this popular genus is enormous, as a glance at the lists compiled 
by Mr. Hansen and Mr. Chapman will amply prove, and it is, therefore, not 
surprising that amongst such a host of forms produced at random, a large proportion 
are, and must of necessity be, inferior in many respects to others. Of these 
inferior forms it may safely be predicted that they will, after a short duration, 
vanish never to be seen again; while the better and finer forms will hold the 
field as long as Cypripediums appeal to the fancy and aesthetic sense of a small 
section of mankind. With these latter we have no hesitation in classing the 
hybrid now figured, which for beauty in form and colour will hold its own amid 
its many competitors for popular favour. 
Cypripedium Gratrixianum belongs to a well-marked group of hybrids which 
includes amongst others such forms as C. conco-Lawre and C. Lawrebel. It was 
obtained as a result of crossing C. bellatulum with C. Enfieldense, this latter, itself 
a hybrid, being the result of a cross between C. Hookerae and C. Lawrenceanum. 
C. bellatulum has already given rise to a great number of fine hybrids, all more 
or less noteworthy. C. Enfieldense, on the other hand, has not, hitherto, been 
employed as the progenitor of new forms; this is no doubt accounted for by its 
hybrid nature, for, as a rule, hybridisers prefer species for crossing, since hybrids 
when employed for this purpose frequently prove but indifferent parents, being 
