APRIL, 1922.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 105 
CYMBIDIUM. ROSEUM, 
A’ Frant Court, Sussex, the residence of Harold B. Smith, Esq., a most 
attractive selection of Cymbidiums was in flower early in March, the 
more attractive, perhaps, by reason of the wet inclement weather which them 
prevailed. Conspicuous among them, on account of its pleasing colour and 
elegant spikes, was Cymbidium roseum. The spikes, some three feet in: 
height, carried eighteen to twenty flowers, each about four inches across, 
and with nearly equal segments, the petals slightly the narrower ; in colour 
creamy white, flushed with a charming tint which, for want of a definite 
term, can be described as khaki-rose, with deeper rose veinings extending 
the length of the segments. The lip, somewhat pointed, has on the front 
lobe marginal spots—almost blotches, more or less confluent, of crimson. 
rose, making it very striking. Centrally, the lobe is white, with a well- 
defined median line of dark crimson. The side lobes, whitish externally, 
are, on their inner surfaces, strongly marked with interrupted lines and: 
spots of crimson-rose, so vivid as to show through the texture. Column 
whitish, reddened apically, its inner surface marked as on the side lobes, 
anther cap yellowish. The keels of the lip are sparsely spotted with. 
crimson on a white ground. At the base of each segment and the column, 
in the latter case on a yellow suffusion, are a number of minute rosy dots, 
larger on the petals, but more numerous on the sepals and the column. The 
habit is not unlike that of C. Sanderi (insigne), but the foliage is broader 
and of a deeper green, but not so erect. 
The species roseum, for apparently it is a species, was first introduced: 
by Messrs. Sanders in 1913. Natural hybridity was hazarded in the effort 
to account for its difference and resemblance to other Cymbidiums from the 
same district—Annam. CC. Sanderi was one parent suggested, but seen in. 
maturity, as are the plants at Frant Court, it can hardly be connected with 
the parentage of roseum. ‘The lip is somewhat compressed and pointed,. 
and in shape, but not in colour, is reminiscent of C. giganteum rather than 
C. Sanderi. The colouring is quite distinct from both. Still the possibility 
of hybridity remains, for Messrs. Sanders exhibited on February 28th: 
Cymbidium Titania, recorded as between roseum and Sanderi. C. roseum 
had certainly imparted its colour to the hybrid, but on the other hand so 
influenced was the shape that the lip might have been taken for a colour 
form of Sanderi, its bluntly rounded outline favouring that species entirely > 
a modificatiou might be anticipated, did Sanderi enter into the paternity of 
roseum, as in that case Titania would have more Sanderi blood in its com- 
Position than of any other species. The minute spots present on the base’ 
of each segment, both in roseum and Sanderi, may or may not evidence 
interbreeding. 
