146 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [May, 1922, 
HYBRID OPHRYSES. 
OR some years past M. Fernand Denis, Balaruc-les-Bains, France, has 
f been interested in the raising of hybrid Ophryses; in fact, O. Grampinil, 
which he produced by crossing O. tenthredenifera with O. aranifera, was 
probably the first artificially raised hybrid of the genus. O. Grampinii has 
since been crossed with O. lutea major, and the resulting hybrid, known as 
O. Denisii, is one of the finest of its kind yet seen; a spike carrying eight 
flowers cut from a plant ten years old is very effective, the outer area of the 
large labellum being of bright greenish-gold colour, while the centre has the 
well-known markings that are characteristic of the genus. 
Up till now, M. Denis has raised thirty different hybrid Ophryses, and 
the selection of cut flowers which he kindly sends shows how interesting 
and beautiful they are. Among them are two varieties of O. dubia 
(Bertolonii X Macchiattii) with bright rose-coloured sepals and petals, and 
a dark velvety lip; O. Fernandii, which has a distinctly three-lobed 
labellum ; and two varieties of a new hybrid between O. tenthredinifera 
and O. arachnitiformis. 
Two varieties of the hybrid between O. arachnitiformis and O. Bertolonif 
are of special interest as representing a plant named O. olbiensis (Journ. 
Bot. 1914, 271) by Colonel M. J. Godfery, but who afterwards stated (/.c. 
1922, 58), “ I was not aware that this name had already been applied to 
another hybrid Ophrys, O. bombyliflora x O. scolopax (Camus, Mov. Orch. 
Europe, p. 306, 1908). I therefore now replace it by O. neocamusii, in honour 
of Mdlle. A. Camus, joint author of the monograph quoted above, and 
responsible for the anatomical detail of that work, in recognition of her 
great and numerous services to botanical science.” 
Seven varieties of O. Macchiattii (aranifera xX speculum) make am 
interesting series of this hybrid, which was originally described in 1881 by 
Macchiatti, from materials collected in the Island of Sardinia. There are 
also three varieties of O. Chobautii, and a pretty hybrid between O. lutea 
major and O. aranifera having light greenish flowers. O. artefacta, 
produced by crossing O. tenthredinifera with O. Macchiattii, has somewhat 
larger flowers, with a handsomely marked labellum. One of the prettiest is 
a new hybrid between O. tenthredinifera and O. arachnitiformis, which wil 
be described by Dr. Keller; it is represented by three varieties, in all of 
which the sepals and petals are of bright rose colour, and the lip greenish- 
brown. 
M. Denis remarks that, like the epiphytal Orchids, the hybrids of the 
terrestrial kinds do not always flower at the same time as their parents: 
Thus, the flowers of the hybrids of O. Bertolonii and of O. arachnitiformis 
are produced about a fortnight before those of their parents. 
