890 PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS calypso 



linear channelled wavy leaves. The bulbs, as they are popularly called) should 



sweet-scented flowers appear in March be planted about August, in a compost of 



and April in loose trusses, and are of sandy peat and leaf mould, and at least 



brilliant gentian-blue with a whitish 6-9 in. deep at the base of a south wall, 



centre. The variety Leichtlmi has so as to afford good protection in winter, 



deeper blue flowers without a whitish In pots a depth of 3 in. will be sufiioient. 



centre, and the variety BegeU may be During wet cold weather the dormant 



recognised by having narrower leaves and corms should be protected with litter or 



perianth segments. handlights, as they like moisture only 



Culture and Propagation. — From the when in vigorous growth. The best way 



Thames Valley southwards, and on the to increase the plant is by separating the 



milder parts of the west coast, this pretty offsets from the old corms and replanting 



plant may be regarded as hardy when in special beds until they attain flowering 



grown at the base of a south wall. In size. Seeds may also be sown in cold 



other localities it is safer to grow it in frames when ripe, but they do not flower 



pots for cold frames or cool greenhouses. for a few years. 

 In the outdoor garden the corms (or 



CXXI. ORCHIDEiE— Orchid Order 



An order of perennial epiphytical or terrestrial herbs, the hardy ones mostly 

 with fascicled or tuberous roots, and sheathing radical or stalkless cauline 

 leaves. Flowers solitary, or in spikes, racemes, or panicles. Flowers usually 

 hermaphrodite, irregular. Perianth superior, coloured, composed of 6 segments, 

 the 3 outer of which are similar, and also the 2 inner side ones, whilst the lower 

 segment, called the ' lip ' or ' labellum,' is quite distinct from the others, often 

 assuming peculiar forms and sometimes spurred at the base. Stamens and 

 style united into a ' column.' Anther 1 opposite the lip, or 2, and opposite 

 the side lobes in Cypripedium. Pollen waxy or granular, cohering in 2, 4, or 

 8 masses. Fruit a 1-celled 3-valved inferior twisted capsule, containing 

 numerous minute seeds. 



Between 300 and 400 genera containing about 5000 species belong to the 

 Orchid family, but most of those in cultivation require to be grown in warm 

 or cold greenhouses. They exhibit the greatest variation in size and structure, 

 and a large number of them are "exceedingly beautiful when in bloom — although 

 far from handsome when not. There is no other family of plants which has 

 so much excited and still continues to excite the wonder of all plant lovers, 

 and now that large and beautifully flowering kinds are rarely found in a 

 wild state, the gardener has devoted his attention to producing by means of 

 artificial fertilisation a large number of beautiful hybrids. 



The Orchids described below, although not to be compared in showiness or 

 size to many of their tender exotic brethren, are nevertheless quite as beautiful 

 and interesting in structure, and possess the great advantage of being 

 more or less easily cultivated in the open air in most parts of the kingdom. 



CALYPSO.— A genus with only 1 heart-shaped, thin, many-nerved leaves, 



species : — Flowers in summer, solitary, with delicate 



C. borealis. — A charming N. American rosy-purple sepals and petals and a white 



Orchid having the stems usually thickened lip crested with yellow, and heavily 



into ' pseudobulbs ' — that is, stems resem- blotched with deep brown, 



bling a bulb in appearance only, not in Culture and Propagation. — This 



structure, about 1 ft. high, with ovate or species succeeds well in half-shady spots 



