356 THE ORCHID REVIEW.  (Decemper, 1922. 
Interest in this species has been again awakened by the elegant variety 
called extraria which Messrs. Sanders exhibited at the meeting of the Royal 
Horticultural Society on October 17th, when it received an Award of Merit. 
The flower of this is greenish white, the lip having a large crimson-purple 
blotch on the central area, and a zone of similar colour at the apex of the 
column. 
Four natural hybrids of this species are known. They are M. 
leucoglossa (spectabilis X candida), M. Bluntii (spectabilis x Clowesii), M. 
festiva (spectabilis x flavescens), and M. Cogniauxiz (spectabilis X 
Regnelii). In the days when blotched varieties of Odontoglossum crispunt 
were fetching enormous prices, many attempts were made to produce a 
hybrid between M. spectabilis and O. crispum, but no success was 
achieved. It is just possible that one day we may see such a hybrid, for the 
art of seed-raising has progressed considerably since the time when blotched 
crispums were in demand. The nearest approach to a hybrid of this kind 
was produced by Messrs. Charlesworth in Odontonia Lucilia (M. spectabilis 
% O. cirrhosum), which first flowered in Ig14, and was figured in the 
Orchid World, vol. iv., p. 125- 
INDIAN ORCHIDS. 
A the forthcoming Ghent Quinquennial Exhibition special prizes will be 
awarded for Indian Orchids. Many of our best-known species have 
as their natural habitat the vast country of India, and, as the following 
selection will show, they are plants of considerable importance in the 
horticultural world. 
A general favourite, and one which almost every amateur has had in his 
collection at one time or another, is Cypripedium insigne, with its varieties 
too numerous to mention. Another member of the genus that has 
achieved much fame as the long-lost Orchid is Cypripedium Fairrieanum. 
It is a charming little flower, and one that is not seen so frequently 
as it should be. In Cypripedium venustum there exists a North Indian 
species that was much esteemed by our early-day amateurs; it is the 
subject of one of the coloured plates in Warner’s Select Orchidaceous 
Plants (t. 24). 
Some idea of the wealth of the Orchid flora of India may be obtained by 
considering the numerous Dendrobiums that have been discovered. But 
few plants have enjoyed greater popularity than D. nobile, with its many 
coloured, and even white, varieties. There is also D. aureum, sometimes 
called D. heterocarpum, which is the parent of several brightly coloured 
hybrids, and such handsome species as D. densiflorum, Farmeri, and 
Devonianum. D. Wardianum is represented by two distinct forms, one 
