puta ti 
. =< 3ae —. 77 
8 : ew 4 
The Orchid Review +} 
On VoL. XXIV. OcToBER, 1916. No. ee 
ass OUR NOTE BOOK. ea 
ECENT exhibits at our horticultural meetings show the extent to 
which Cattleya Dowiana has been used by the hybridist. To take 
the two last meetings of the R.H.S., we note that both the plants that 
secured Awards of Merit on September 12th were forms of Cattleya 
Venus, while a fortnight later three out of four of the Orchids certificated 
have Cattleya Dowiana in their composition. At Manchester, on 
September 7th, all the seven Orchids certificated were derivatives of C. 
Dowiana, and a fortnight later as many as five out of seven of the Cattleya 
group that gained Certificates could claim descent from this species. 
Cattleya Venus is evidently well named, for it gained four Certificates at 
these two Manchester meetings. 
The article on Cattleya Dowiana and its derivatives (pp. 213-216) is 
interesting in this connection, and if the search for a yellow Cattleya has 
not been altogether successful it has given us a number of surprisingly 
beautiful hybrids. And we believe that seedlings of the third generation 
are in existence, so that further developments may be expected. It is 
curious how these experiments have clustered around this particular 
species, for out of the nineteen primary hybrids that have been recrossed 
with C. Dowiana only two appear to have been reunited with the other 
original parent. Ina hurried glance through the list we only notice two, 
C. Iris xX bicolor and Leeliocattleya Dominiana X Lelia purpurata, 
yielding, respectively, C. Farquharsoniana and Le, Wiganiana. It serves to 
emphasise the fact that the experiments were carried out with a definite 
but it is curious that the remarkable fringed lip of Brassa- 
vola Digbyana has _ not invited further experiment. Probably B. 
Digbyana possesses no other desirable quality, but the aim now seems to 
be to get any desired quality on both ‘sides of the ancestry, and the 
experiment would be well worth trying. But similar objections could 
hardly apply in the case of Sophronitis grandiflora, for a race of Sophro- 
cattleyas having more of the qualities of this brilliant little plant would be 
an acquisition, especially if, like it, they could be grown in a Cool house. 
object in view, 
233 
