THE MOST USEFUL ORCHIDS 6i 



is of dwarfer habit and has brighter flowers than the type ; other 

 good varieties are C. b. nigrum and C. B. superbum. 



C. BELLATULUM is found in Siam, but, for a long time after its 

 introduction in i888 by Messrs H. Low & Co., its habitat was 

 unknown. Of dwarf growth, with thick leaves that are curiously 

 bilobed at the apex, purple beneath, and mottled with light, 

 greyish green on deep green above, this is one of the most interest- 

 ing species. The rounded flowers are about three inches across, 

 rounded, fleshy, and borne on a very short stem. The ground 

 colour is white or pale yellow, but this is freely spotted with dark 

 maroon-purple, the markings being very heavy in some flowers 

 and much smaller in others. The lip is comparatively small, and 

 is much less marked than the petals. The rare and beautiful 

 C. BELLATULUM ALBUM is pure white and unspotted. Both the 

 type and the variety are summer flowering. 



C. BoxALLii comes from Burmah, where it was discovered 

 about 1 877 by Mr Boxall, when collecting for Messrs H. Low & 

 Co. In growth and shape of flower it closely resembles C. villosum, 

 and for a long time it was regarded as a variety of the latter species. 

 The chief point of difi^erence between C. Boxallii and C. villosum 

 is that the former has a pure white apex to the dorsal sepal, and 

 from the centre to the base of that sepal there are numerous and 

 often confluent spots of dark blackish purple. C. Boxallii shows 

 a good deal of variation, however, and in some forms it closely 

 approaches C. villosum in colour. It is a species easily managed in 

 a cool house. A very striking and distinct variety is C. B. 

 ATRATUM ; in this the dorsal sepal is almost black and the rest 

 of the flower is of deeper colour than usual, and richly 

 burnished. 



C. CALLOSUM is a handsome plant even when not in flower, as 

 its leaves, about nine inches long, are prettily mottled and tesselated 



