THE MOST USEFUL ORCHIDS 69 



beauty. It was introduced by Messrs J. Veitch & Sons, in 

 1868, but its habitat was not known until Forsterman collected it 

 in the Langkawi Islands for Messrs Sander & Sons, many years 

 later. Other references to C. niveum will be found under the 

 notes on C. bellatulum and C. Godefroyce. 



C. PURPURATUM is a beautiful, but unfortunately a very rare 

 species. It is a native of Hong Kong and the adjacent Chinese 

 mainland, and was introduced by Mr Knight, of Chelsea, as long 

 ago as 1836. It is a dwarf plant with short, thick, tesselated 

 leaves, and carries its flowers about six inches high. As a rule the 

 flowers are about three inches across, the dorsal sepal being white 

 with a green base, and very regularly marked with purple-brown 

 stripes. The petals are purple, sometimes shaded with crimson 

 and veined with green ; the lip is purplish, with darker veins 

 C. PURPURATUM is a very pretty plant, but it does not seem to take 

 kindly to cultivation. An intermediate temperature suits it best. 



C. RoTHSCHlLDEANUM ranks among the noblest of Cypri- 

 dediums as it is a strong grower and bears large flowers on tall 

 spikes. The broad, glossy green leaves are often two feet long, 

 while the reddish purple spike is sometimes a yard high, and may 

 carry as many as six blooms. To Messrs Sander & Sons is given 

 the credit of introducing this species from New Guinea in 1887. 

 The upper and lower sepals are nearly equal in size and colouring ; 

 the ground colour is greenish yellow, and on this are longitudinal 

 stripes of blackish purple. The long petals stand out horizontally 

 and taper gradually to a point ; they are yellowish, striped with 

 dark purple and spotted with the same colour, the spots being most 

 numerous towards the base. The lip large and curiously elon- 

 gated ; dull brownish yellow with brown-purple veins. There is 

 very little variation in C. Rothschildeanum except that some 

 plants seem to be naturally more free flowering than others. The 



