THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



DIES ORCHIDIANI. 



The event of the month has been the flowering of that remarkable novelty, 

 Cymbidium rhodochilum, in the Kew collection. During recent years there 

 has been a dearth of novelties of striking character among imported Orchids, 

 but here we have a marked exception to the rule. The strong contrast 

 afforded by the large red lip against the black-spotted greeen petals, added 

 to its graceful habit and imposing spike, are very striking— the colour 

 indeed almost unique — and should it prove as easily grown as other 

 Cymbidiums it ought to prove a great acquisition. It seems likely to 

 remain rare for some time to come, for besides being reported as rare, it is said 

 to be difficult to import alive ; still I am told that there are plants in two 

 or three different collections. I wonder what use the hybridist will be 

 able to make of it. 



Mention of the plant recalls what I wrote two years ago (O.R., viii, p. 34) 

 respecting the " scarlet Cymbidium," which had been a sort of legendary 

 plant, but was ultimately identified with our old friend Eulophiella 

 Elisabethae. At all events M. Humblot is reported to have said that he 

 was nearly certain that it was communicated to Reichenbach, who called it 

 Eulophia Loise-Chauvieri. Now the " scarlet Cymbidium" was said to be 

 Cymbidium Loise-Chauvieri — a plant equally legendary — and the question 

 arose, and still remains, whether the two plants were not one and the same. 

 Judging by the records of the last few years, I think we may term Mada- 

 gascar the " home of mystery "—at all events so far as things Orchidic are 

 concerned. 



Lastly, the name is felicitous, and I say this deliberately, and in spite of 

 the new canon of nomenclature to which I called attention last month. It 

 is significant and descriptive, and therefore eminently appropriate. 



What's in a name? The question crops up again in a somewhat 

 di^ent form. Not long ago we had a discussion on what may be termed 



