JAn.-FeB, 1920.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 29, 
Mr. Wentworth Buller, with the record that it came from the Philippines. 
Of this Reichenbach records that he was sceptical at the time, but after- 
wards regarded it as correct, which is probably a tribute to his knowledge 
that Roebelen, whose dried specimen had been forwarded to him by 
M. Kienast Zolly, of Zurich, had been collecting in the Philippines; for the 
fact is not stated. Unless accompanied by some memo. as to colour, the 
evidence that the dried specimen belonged to var. citrinum is not complete. 
The latter we regard as simply a colour variation, and in any case Mr- 
Ridley also records it from the Malay Peninsula. It is interesting to be 
able to add so much to the history of this pretty little species, which has 
become very rare in cultivation. R.A.R. 
a 
WO forms of this attractive winter-blooming Pleione have long been 
known in cultivation, one having purple markings, the other brown 
markings on the lip. Both are again in bloom in the collection of H. J. 
Elwes, Esq., Colesborne Park, Glos., and the question has again been 
raised what is their relation to each other. As long ago as 1895 we 
received flowers from the same source, and suggested that the brown colour, 
of what was known as var. tricolor, resulted from an admixture of yellow 
with the purple (O.R., iv. p. 66). This variety was described in 1880 by 
Reichenbach (Gard. Chron., 1880, i. p. 394), from materials sent by Mr. 
Wm. Bull, Chelsea, and was afterwards figured (Orch. Alb., iii. t. 102). Its 
origin was not stated, but we have now been able to trace it. It was 
figured in April, 1883, by Mr. John Day (Orch. Draw., xxxii. t. 89), when 
Mr. Day, ‘inalluding to its supposed appearance in 1880, remarked: “ I 
might have sent him flowers some years sooner, for I had it in bloom 
here iu 1874. I saw it growing on trees near Darjeeling, at 10,o00ft. 
altitude, in flower in February, with snow lying about in places. 
near it, and sent home some bulbs by post.” This may represent the 
source of Mr. Bull’s plant, for we know that he was in constant touch with 
Mr. Day. The latter had, in January, 1867, figured what has been regarded as. 
typical P. humilis (Orch. Draw., xi. t. 67), the lines on the lip in this. case 
being clear purple, without trace of yellow, and of this Mr. Day remarked = 
“ Received from Mr. Wentworth Buller, in 1865; imported by him from 
Assam.”’ Of this, curiously enough, we can only find a second unpublished 
drawing, namely, one from Mrs. Ross, of Florence. The others have brown 
markings on the lip, as in the so-called var. tricolor, which is actually the 
typical form. The species was originally described and figured in 1805, 
under the name of Epidendrum humile, Smith (Exot. Bot., ii. t. 98), from. 
= PLEIONE HUMILIS AND ITS VARIETIES. 
