HE Ss 
© The Orchid Review “i 
VoL. XXV. NOVEMBER-DECEMBER, 1917. No. 299-300. 
Pb Se 
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HE progress that is being made in hybridisation is frequently illustrated 
at our horticultural meetings, but occasionally some outstanding 
subject appears, as was the case at the R.H.S. meeting held on November 
2oth, when a brilliant Brassocatlelia was exhibited by Messrs. Armstrong 
& Brown, under the name of Lady Manningham Buller, to which both a 
First-class Certificate and a Silver-gilt Lindley Medal were awarded. It is 
the result of intercrossing Brassocattleya Veitchii Queen Alexandra 
(Cattleya Mossiz Wageneri X Brassavola Digbyana) and Lzeliocattleya 
Ophir (Lelia xanthina x C. Dowiana aurea), and the flower is of excellent 
shape and substance, with a very undulate and somewhat fringed margin 
OUR NOTE BOOK. 
to the lip, while the colour may be described as bright canary yellow, 
rather darker on the centre of the lip. This particular colour has long been 
a desideratum in the group, owing to the well-known tendency of Cattleya 
Dowiana to produce purple hybrids. Lelia xanthina, however, has proved 
a useful corrective, and if the colour can be handed on to the next genera- 
tion, as in the present case, it should increase the value of the Lelia as a 
parent. The raisers must be congratulated on their brilliant acquisition. 
In shape and substance the character of the Brassavola is most 
apparent, but the influence of the two Cattleyas is seen in the broadened 
petals, and the greatly reduced fringe of the lip, in which latter character 
the influence of the Lelia would also operate. If only the fringe could 
be recovered, a very remarkable flower would be the result, and for this 
nothing but re-crossing with the Brassavola would suffice. The other 
characters are so good that we think the cross might be attempted with 
good hopes of success. The fringed character on both sides of the ancestry 
should make itself felt, and there is not the same reason to fear a weak, 
washy result as in'the case of re-crossing the Brassavola with a purple 
Brassocattleya. A probable narrowing of the petals would be more than 
counterbalanced by a return of the fringe with a retention of the yellow 
colour, and both results are within the range of possibility 
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41 
