284 THE ORCHID. REVIEW. (SEPTEMBER, 1923. 
Eel ONE S&S. 
By HAROLD RAVEN. ; 
JN the whole of the vast Orchid family it is doubtful if there is to be found 
another genus at once so easy of culture and so productive of beauty as 
Pleiones ; those who have seen a well-flowered pan of them will agree it is 
a striking and lovely sight. Yet they have never attained any great 
measure of popularity ; most collections contain one or two specimens, but 
they are usually neglected and more or less overshadowed by the larger- 
flowered genera. 
With the exception of P. formosana and P. yunnanensis, which, as the 
names denote, come from Formosa and Yunnan, all the species are natives 
of the cool and hilly parts of India, being distributed through Sikkim, 
Khasia, Nepal, Assam, Burma and Moulmein, where they are found 
growing upon moss-covered banks and rocks, and round the bases of trees. 
The leaves are generally deciduous, falling after the bulb is matured, the 
flowers preceding or contemporaneous with the commencement of growth. 
Often three inches or more in diameter, they are gaily-coloured and borne 
in ones or twos on short scapes from the base of the pseudo-bulb, the colour 
Tanging from rose-purple to mauve and lovely soft shades of pale rose and 
lilac. The lip funnel-shaped, frequently fringed, and with a golden disc or 
keels, usually spotted and streaked with purple-brown, amethyst-purple or 
crimson. 
Their cultural needs are simple. They should de potted about two 
inches apart in well-drained pans in a compost of osmunda, sphagnum, leaf 
mould and sand, and suspended in a light, airy position at the warm end of 
the Cool house or the cool end of the Intermediate. During growth, 
abundance of water may be given, together with daily syringing of the 
undersides of the leaves, but after completion and until the development of 
the flower spikes only enough to prevent shrivelling is needed. Personally 
I do not advocate heavy shading. Given a moderate amount of sunlight | 
the leaves assume that bronze tint that denotes strong and healthy growth, 
and my experience has been that they flower all the better for it. 
The principal species are as follows : Birmanica, Hookeriana, humilis, 
Jagenaria, maculata, precox and its variety Wallichiana, formosana» 
Reichenbachiana and yunnanensis. All are interesting and worthy of a 
place in the collection, where they will be a source.of great delight in the 
late winter and early spring, and in addition provide quantities of most 
acceptable coat flowers. 
VINE House COLLECTION.—Messrs. A. J. Keeling & Son, Westgate 
Hill, Bradford, have published a sale catalogue of this collection. 
