THE ORCHID REVIEW. 18 
NATURAL HYBRID ORCHIDS. 
SEVERAL years ago I commenced the task of clearing up the origin of the 
numerous presumed natural hybrids among Orchids, and one of the great 
difficulties I met with was to ascertain which species grow intermixed ina 
wild state. The history of Cypripedium or (more correctly) Paphiopedilum 
X Sallieri is a case in point (vide Orch. Rev., vii. p. 172). Two interesting 
flowers from the collection of O. O. Wrigley, Esq., Bridge Hall, Bury, 
have fortunately thrown much further light on this question, as the 
following notes will show. The plants were purchased at one of Messrs. 
F. Sander & Co’s. Sales, at Messrs. Protheroe & Morris’ Rooms, as 
C. insigne montanum, one in 1893 and the other a year later. ‘I have 
watched and examined them for several years,” Mr. Wrigley writes, ‘‘and 
have an idea that both are hybrids (natural) between insigne and villosum, 
and thus a form of C. X nitens. I shall be very much obliged if you will 
carefully examine them to see if you can trace any signs of either or both of 
them being hybrids.” It was obvious at a glance that they were not 
varieties of insigne, and a comparison showed they came nearest to 
P. X nitens var. Sallieri. The scape and ovary have not the close 
velvety pubescence of P. insigne, nor are they shaggy as in P. villosum, 
but intermediate between the two, while the dorsal sepal and petals showed 
the same approach to villosum in character that is seen in the hybrid, whose 
origin and parentage are known. In short they only differ in the way 
that seedlings out of the same capsule frequently do. As this only 
confirmed several previous records, which are inexplicable from what 
is known of the geographical distribution of the parent species, I wrote to 
Messrs. Sander & Co., who furnished the following very interesting reply 
to my queries :— 
‘“‘C, insigne seems to be distributed over a very wide area. We get it 
from Assam and Burma, and from many stations in the former province, 
especially the Khasia Hills. We get villosum from Burma, not from 
Assam, and the form previously thought to be new came from quite a new 
locality in Burma. We think it quite possible that insigne and villosum do 
grow together, and we should not like to say that natural hybrids do not 
exist between them. The variety Boxallii we yesterday divided from a mass 
of insigne. Last year we had from one collector C. villosum, insigne, 
Spicerianum and hirsutissimum in the same box, which is apparently 
conclusive evidence that these kinds grow, if not with, at least 
comparatively near, each other. There is always great difficulty in getting 
to know the exact locality of the different plants. Our collectors, of course, 
employ native labour, and many of these natives go a long distance 
for plants. You are quite right to try and clear up the origin of all natural 
