JuLy, 1922.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 205 
albino in the sense that we use this term to-day. In the variety described 
in 1884 as C. maxima aphlebia the purple markings on the lip were absent, - 
the yellow blotch being surrounded by pale purple. At the Manchester 
Orchid Society meeting, held on October 7th, 1897, an Award of Merit was: 
given to a very fine variety of the species exhibited by Mr. E. J. 
Sidebotham. 
The usual flowering season of C. maxima is the lateautumn, but blooms: 
are sometimes produced in the spring, as was Messrs. Sanders’ variety 
peruviana. Late in May we received a fine example of the typical form* 
from Dr. Béedford’s extensive collection at Eslaforde, Marden, Kent. This- 
species is now rarely seen in cultivation. 
MEGACLINIUM PURPUREORACHIS. 
NE of the most extraordinary Orchids exhibited at the recent Chelsea 
Show was a fine plant of Megaclinium purpureorachis in the group” 
shown by Sir Jeremiah Colman, Bart. Its history goes back to 1903, when 
it was described by De Wildeman from materials collected by M. Gentil at 
Ninumbi, on the Upper Lomami, a tributary of the Congo. In September, 
1908, it flowered in the Botanical Gardens, Glasnevin, and in April of the 
following year it was exhibited by Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., at the 
Royal Horticultural Society, and awarded a Botanical Certificate. At the™ 
dispersal of the Burford collection, Sir Trevor’s plant passed into the 
possession of Sir Jeremiah Colman, Bart., whose collection at Gatton Park 
is famous for the numerous species of botanical interest. 
Lindley, in describing Megaclinium Bufo, remarked: ‘ Let the reader 
_ imagine a green snake to be pressed flat, like a dried flower, and then to 
have a row of toads, or some such speckled reptiles, drawn up along the’ 
middle in single file, their backs set up, their fore legs sprawling right and 
left, and their mouths wide open, with a large purple tongue wagging about 
convulsively, and a pretty considerable approach will be gained to an idea 
of this strange plant, which, if Pythagoras had but known of it, would have 
rendered all arguments about the transmigration of souls superfluous.” 
For some unaccountable reason, Sir Trevor’s plant was at first labelled 
M. Bufo, but subsequently corrected to M. purpureorachis. When- 
exhibited at this year’s Chelsea Show the inflorescence was finely developed, 
being about a foot in height, with the rachis or central stalk flattened out to 
nearly a couple of inches in width, on each side of which, in a row along 
the mid-rib, were about thirty of the little toad-like flowers, apparently just 
waiting to play a long game of leap-frog. The rachis is heavily blotched 
with dark purple on a light yellow-green ground, hence the specific name 
purpureorachis. The flowers are very hairy and dark brown in colour. 
