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PL. DLI. 
ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM tor. var. SPECTABILE uno. 
CRISPED ODONTOGLOSSUM, REMARKABLE VARIETY. 
ODONTOGLOSSUM. Vide Lindenia, 1, p. 11. 
Odontoglossum crispum. Vide Lindenia, I, p. 99. 
Var. regale L. Linp., infra. 
well known English amateur, Mr. Dr B. Crawsnay, recently commu- 
| nicated to the Gardeners’ Chronicle some interesting remarks relating to 
the variations of this celebrated species Odontoglossum crispum. Some 
one had asked him at a recent ees “What constitutes a crispum? ” and 
Mr. De B. Crawsuay replied thus : 
“T wonder how many of us réally know what our reply would be, were we 
asked by one who said he did not know, and believing us to be better informed, 
awaited the hoped for information which I think in many cases, would render 
the “ ignoramus ” still wiser. 
“Tf all the plants which have been certificated by the Royal Horticultural 
Society and other Societies the world over, could by any improbability be got 
together in bloom for the questioner, and : “ That is Od. crispum, ” be told him, 
as the world’s reply, he would probably say : “ Oh, ” for I feel certain he would 
never recover the shock to get more breath. He might think to himself : “ Well! 
it’s pretty variable at any rate. 
“ From the outset in the days of Bateman, O. crispum was mistaken by him 
when he saw it, and he renamed Linptey’s species after H. R. H. the Princess 
of Wales. What would he say now were the thousands of much mixed forms to 
” 
” 
” 
be presented to him?... 
“ The true crispum I believe, is the spotless form that has a yellow disc 
to the lip, two yellow teeth at the base, and the two plates at the sides of 
its channel under the column, only sufficiently raised from the surface so 
as to expose the ends of the nerves like tiny points. As soon as the yellow 
usurps more than the disc of the lip, and as soon as spots and marks appear, 
then I consider that there is an evidence of hybridism. No one can tell the 
myriads of cross-fertilisations that have taken place. This has been proceeding 
till one can only fancy there is not a true crispum left.... ” 
There is evidently a great deal of truth in the remarks made by Mr. Crawsuay. 
For our own part we have no doubt but that the intervention of insects in 
a 
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