May-JUNE, 1919.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 79 
Rehb. Ic. Bot., fig. 1141. As to the identity of these three forms, we can 
say that E. media form B is E. viridiflora, Rchb., and E. media form c is 
E. atrorubens, Ehrh., while E. media form a is probably E. microphylla, 
Ehrh., which is figured at t. 811 of the Flora Danica under the name of 
Helleborine latifolia montana. This plate is cited by Lange (Haandb. 
Dansk. Fl., p. 579), and the lip is shown as white. Besides, there are 
Danish specimens at Kew, so that the remark made by Fries, “ not of 
Ehrh.,’’ must have arisen by some misapprehension. E. media, Fries, may 
thus be entirely abolished, for each of its three forms has an earlier name, 
and when these are removed nothing is left. 
As to the British E. media, Bab., it is probably correct to refer it to 
E. viridiflora, Rchb. (Fl. Germ. Excurs.,.p. 133), which was based on the 
earlier Serapias viridiflora, Hoffm. But whether this represents a really 
distinct species is a more difficult problem, for there are other doubtful 
forms, and we should like to see the whole question examined in the light of 
possible hybridity. There is the natural hybrid, E. Schmalhousenii, Richter, 
derived from E. latifolia and E. atrorubens, and the question is what would 
happen if this were self-fertilised, or crossed with the original parents. 
There are other perplexing intermediate forms, whose nomenclature is a 
tissue of confusion in books. What is really wanted is a few definite 
experiments, which should be within the range of possibility for anyone who 
can cultivate Epipactises successfully. Among garden plants there are 
many examples of crosses between known hybrids and their original parents, 
and their existence in nature need not be doubted. E. microphylla is 
absent from Britain, but on the Continent hybrids between it and both 
E, latifolia and E. atrorubens have been recognised, so that there is plenty 
of room for experiment. R. A. Rote. 
BULBOPHYLLUM SPECTABILE VAR. VIRIDE.—A very distinct variety of 
Bulbophyllum spectabile has flowered at the, Royal Botanic Garden, 
Glasnevin, of which flowers have been sent to Kew, together with those of 
the typical form. ©The sepals and petals of the novelty are clear light green 
throughout, while in the type they bear eight to ten lines of ‘nearly con- 
fluent red-brown dots. The lip in both forms bears a number of prominent 
tubercles with a brown apex. The original B. spectabile flowered at Glasnevin 
in May, 1896, and was described somewhat later (Rolfe in Kew Bull., 1918, 
P- 193). The plant is said to have been received from Assam, and - June, 
Igor, a specimen that proved identical was received for determination from 
Mr. W. Bull, with the record that it came from Burma. The species 
belongs to the Sestochilos section of the genus, and is allied to B. striatum, 
hb. f., but has much larger flowers. A marked character, of this 
attractive little plant is the much elongated stalk of the lip.—R.A.R. 
