526 ORCHIDS 



British and other Hardy Orchids, 



is of the same colour, but a little darker, with a few blotches of 

 crimson in the mouth; it is fully 2in. across at the base. The 

 great beauty of this plant has induced many collectors to send 

 home quantities of it for cultivation, but it has never yet been 

 successfully grown. It is said to be almost, if not quite, hardy. 

 A native of Mexico, near a town called Irapeo, where it grows 

 at an elevation of 5000ft. ; introduced and flowered in 1846. 

 The treatment recommended for C. puhescens is said to be the 

 most satisfactory of the many methods tried for this Mexican 

 gem. (B. R., t. 58.) 



C. japonicum {Thimb.). — A truly wonderful plant, of which 

 comparatively little is known here. From a mass of roots and 

 creeping rhizomes a pair of leaves are developed, much in the 

 same way as in C. acauk, but larger, plicate, almost fan-shaped, 

 and 4in. across. The scape is ift. high, leafless, and hairy; it 

 bears one large flower, in which the ovate-lanceolate sepals and 

 petals are 2l,-in. long, greenish, with crimson spots at the base of 

 the latter. The lip is gigantic, being 2\\x\. long by i^in. wide, 

 and white, marbled with pink ; the aperture extends two-thirds 

 of the way down, as in C. acaule. C. japonicum was known only 

 from Japanese descriptions and drawings until it was imported 

 from japan by Messrs. Wallace, of Colchester, who succeeded in 

 flowering it in 1875. It is said to grow in abundance in moist 

 woods in Japan. The plant which flowered at Colchester was 

 planted in light loam in a pot, and grown in a cold fernery. 

 Some recommend pure peat for it, but, so far as we know, the 

 loam treatment is the only one that has resulted in flowers. 

 (G. C, 1875, iii., p. 624.) 



C. macranthum {Sw.). — This very remarkable species, in 

 the form and colour of its large flowers, may be characterised as 

 almost grotesque. The stems are ift. or more high, pubescent, 

 with ovate, striated, green leaves, 5 in, long, hairy only about the 

 base. The flowers are borne singly on the apex of the stems, 

 and they have broad, ovate sepals liin. long, petals a little shorter 

 and narrower, and the pouch large, projecting, inflated at the 

 base, nearly 3in. long, and coloured salmon-red, mottled and 

 veined with a darker shade, almost white at the mouth. This 

 plant is difficult to manage under cultivation, having been known 

 to flower only a few times in England, although many people 

 have grown it. Loam appears to agree with it best. Messrs. 

 Backhouse flowered it by planting it in a fissure of the rockery 

 in strong rich soil. It is a native of Siberia, in latitude 58deg., 

 where it grows in open places or in birch woods. (Fig. 179, for 

 which we are indebted to the Editor of " The Garden.") 



