106 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [May, 1918, 
revelation to the observer to see the great divergence in form and colouring, 
This is remarked by all who have seen our seventy plants of C. Thayeriana 
in bloom. The parents were C. intermedia X C. Schroeder alba, and 
about three-fourths of the plants produce flowers of a lovely uniform lilac 
with no accentuation on the apex of the lip. In the balance there are 
varying degrees of amethystine marking, from the smallest dash of colour, 
as in the type plant, to heavy inverted V-shaped masses of colour. This 
has led many to remark that no one would credit their common origin were it 
not well authenticated. There is also a similar variation in the shape of the 
labellum. Many are distinctly three-lobed, while three others are as finely 
rounded as any C. Schroeder. In some the side lobes do not fold over the 
column, but only meet at the base ; others overlap nearly their whole length. : 
Last March we had over 200 expanded flowers of C. Thayeriana, and as by 
actual test it lasts longer in perfection than any other Cattleya known here, 
a fine opportunity was enjoyed during the six weeks for study and 
comparison.” This amount of variation is more often seen among secondary 
hybrids, but the range of colour would naturally be increased by the fact 
that one of the parents wasan albino. The figure represents one of the first 
seedlings to open, and is fairly intermediate between the two parents. 
OLYSTACHYA pubescens, Rchb. f., is a pretty little South African 
p Orchid which is frequently seen in flower at Kew, and is well figured 
at t. 5586 of the Botanical Magazine. It was originally described under the 
name of Epiphora pubescens, by Lindley (Comp. Bot. Mag., ii. p. 201), 
being based on dried specimens collected in the Kaffir Country by Burchell. 
Lindley seems to have been rather puzzled as to its affinities, and remarked: 
“*T hardly know where to station this very distinct genus. Its habit is that 
of Polystachya, but it belongs to Vandex.” Afterwards, when it flowered 
with Messrs. Loddiges, who had introduced tt from Delagoa Bay, he 
remarked: “It approaches very near io the genus Polystachya, next to 
which, among Vande, it must be placed in any future arrangement ” (Bol. 
Reg., 1840, Misc. p. 49). Reichenbach afterwards transferred it t0 
Polystachya, where it has since remained by common consent. The 
question of its distinctness has again been raised by Finet, who has described 
two new species of Epiphora from Tropical Africa, E. Pobeguinii and E. 
saccata, and the flowering of the former, both at Kew. and at Glasnevin, has 
furnished an opportunity for examining the characters. . We fail, however, 
to find any essential difference from Polystachya, in fact the new species até 
very distinct from the original South African one, and much nearer to others 
—— 
THE GENUS EPIPHORA. I 
