20 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
CYPRIPEDIUM x SIAMENSE. 
A FEW years ago it was remarked that we had no undoubted natural 
hybrid in the genus Cypripedium, but shortly afterwards the remarkable 
C. Calceolus x macranthum came to light in the collection of M. W.- 
Barbey, Chambesy, near Geneva, among importations of the two parent 
species from the birch forests of Siberia. And now I believe we have a 
tropical example, as the following evidence will show. 
The other day Messrs. Hugh Low and Co., of Clapton, sent a flower of 
a Cypripedium which appeared in an importation of C. callosum, and 
another species (of which more anon) from Siam, which they considered 
might be a natural hybrid between them. I instantly recognised my C. 
siamense (Gard. Chron., 1889, i. p. 192), which was described as a species, 
though the new evidence, accompanied by flowers of the supposed parents, 
throws an entirely new light on the question. C. siamense was imported 
by M. J. Garden, Bois Colombes, Paris, from the neighbourhood of Bangkok, 
and was described as a free growing species allied to C. javanicum. Then 
a plant appeared in the collection of G. H. Palmer, Esq., Springfield, 
Trowbridge, in August, 1890, and this, too, quite accidentally with C. 
callosum. Subsequently odd plants have flowered in other collections. 
‘It has been known since 1888, however, when Reichenbach described it as 
C. callosum var. subleeve (Gard. Chron., 1888, i. p. 331), from a plant which 
flowered in the collection of R. H. Measures, Esq., The Woodlands, Streat- 
ham, which also came out of a batch of C. callosum. Curiously enough 
Reichenbach remarked—“ It might be supposed to be a natural hybrid, but 
I do not believe it. . . . M. Regnier would have brought the other parent.” 
I did not know this plant when describing C. siamense, but immediately 
recognised it on a subsequent visit to The Woodlands. 
And now comes the evidence about the other Siam species. Some time 
ago a curious Cypripedium appeared in the collection of W. M. Appleton, 
Esq., of Weston-super-Mare, with a flower like C. Bullenianum, but the 
leaves scarcely at all tessellated. It was described as C. Bullenianum var. 
Appletonianum (supra, i. p. 135). It was supposed to have come with C. 
Hookerz, and thus was presumably Bornean, like the original C. Bul- 
lenianum. It subsequently appeared in other collections, among plants of 
the typical form, and I am inclined to think that some of these, if not all, 
came from Siam. At all events, Messrs. Low have obtained plenty of it 
from thence, together with C. callosum, and some of the plants have the 
obscure tessellation of the variety Appletonianum. Thus we have evidence 
that C. Bullenianum comes from both Borneo and Siam, besides which it 
is also said to grow in Java, which, however, requires confirmation. The 
Siamese habitat explains all the mystery about C. siamense, which is abso- 
lutely intermediate between C. callosum and C. Bullenianum, and I think 
