62 ORCHIDS FOR EVERYONE 



with light green on a deep green ground. The large blooms 

 appear in Spring or early Summer, and are each carried at the end 

 of a stout stem, fifteen or eighteen inches high. On the broad 

 white dorsal sepal there are deep wine-purple veins, curving a little 

 from base to apex, and short veins alternate with long ones ; at the 

 base of the sepal there is some green shading. This Siamese 

 species is essentially one for the warm house and it is altogether a 

 desirable plant. The albino variety, C. c. Sanders, has the white 

 parts very pure and all the parts that are coloured in the type are 

 light apple green in the variety. 



C. CAUDATUM invariably attracts attention when in bloom 

 because of the great length of its petals, and the most interesting 

 point about these is that when a flower opens the petals are three 

 inches long, but during the following week they elongate at the 

 rate of two inches or more each day. Eighteen or twenty inches 

 is a common length for the petals to reach, and a total length of 

 thirty inches is on record. As the spikes carry two or three 

 flowers, occasionally four, a large specimen with several spikes ot 

 expanded flowers presents a wonderful sight. C. caudatum hails 

 from Peru and is not difficult to cultivate in a warm, moist house. 

 It has robust green leaves that often reach a length of fifteen 

 inches. The flowers are large and the lower sepal is larger than 

 the dorsal one ; they are both creamy white, with regular, bright 

 yellow-green veins. The elongated, pendulous petals are 

 brownish-crimson, shading to yellow-green at the base; they are 

 also narrow and ribbon-like. The bronze-green lip is shell- 

 shaped, veined with darker green, and the infolded side lobes are 

 whitish, lightly spotted with purple. There are several varieties of 

 C. caudatum, the most important ones being C. C. Lindenii, in 

 which the lip has become petaloid, and elongated ; C. c. Luxem- 

 bourg, with bright yellew sepals and purplish petals ; C. c. 



