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ORCHID-GROWERS MANUAL. 



ANSELLIA, Lindley. 

 (Tnie Vandeae, mitrite Cymbidieae.) 

 Noble free-flowering epiphytal Orchids, growing about three feet 

 high, and blooming in winter, when they produce large panicles of 

 flowers, which, if kept in a cool house, last long in perfection. The 

 flowers are characterised by subequal spreading sepals and petals, by the 

 short column being wingless and produced at the base into a short broad 

 two-lobed foot, and by the distichous-leaved stems terminating in a 

 panicle of flowers. Some three or four species or well-marked varieties 

 are known in Tropical Africa, extending to Natal. 



Culture. — The best compost in which to grow these plants is rough 

 fibrous peat, with a good addition of leaf-mould and sand, and good drainage. 



They require good-sized pots, as 

 they root very freely, and are of 

 easy culture, provided they get 

 the heat of the East Indian 

 house while growing, and a good 

 supply of water at the roots. 

 Care is, however, necessary in 

 watering, for the young growths 

 are apt to rot if water lies in the 

 heart. All of them are propa- 

 gated by dividing their stems 

 after they have finished their 

 growth, or just after they have 

 done blooming. 



A. AFRICANA, Lindley. — A 

 free-flowering and noble evergreen 

 Orcliid, producing upright stems 

 from three to four feet high, witli 

 light green five-ribbed leaves. 

 The flowers are produced in Jan- 

 uaryondrooping branching spikes 

 from the apex of the stems, and 

 have the yellow sepals and petals 

 spotted all over with dark brown : 



. ANSELLIA APRIOANA. t ni tit i 



lip yellow. ■ We have seen up- 

 wards of a hundred flowers on . one spike, and they keep in beauty for two 

 months. This species was first found in Fernando Po, on the stem of a 



