272. THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
CATTLEYA LUEDDEMANNIANA. 
This fine old Cattleya is much less common in cultivation than most 
others of the labiata group, and a good deal of uncertainty is still felt 
respecting it. Its usual time of blooming is said to be September and 
October, the flowers being produced on completion of the young growth 
without resting, and if they do not appear then the plants stand over until 
the following season. Yet we have seen living flowers also in the months 
of January, March, April, May, and June, and last spring we received 
flowers from three different plants, from which it is evident that our 
knowledge of the species is not yet complete. Whether these were from 
exceptionally late growths which only matured in the following spring we 
cannot say, and it would be interesting if some one would observe this 
point. 
The. species originally appeared in the celebrated collection of M. 
Pescatore, of St. Cloud, Paris, and was described by Reichenbach in 1854 
(Xen. Orch., i., ps 29), being dedicated to M. Pescatore’s gardener, 
Liiddemann. Some time afterwards it appeared in England, in the 
collection of Mr. Dawson, at Meadow Bank, near Glasgow, and was figured 
as C. Dawsonii, in 1863 (Warn. Sel. Orch., ser. ig t. 16). It had been in 
cultivation for some years prior to this date. It was also represented in a 
few other collections at this early date, but nothing seems to have been 
known of its origin until about the year 1868, when Messrs. Hugh Low & 
Co. imported it in quantity from Venezuela. It is said to grow on the 
Cordillera at some distance east of Caraccas, near the coast, and at a 
lower altitude than C. Mossiz. It then obtained the garden name of C. 
speciosissima, under which it is still often cultivated. Then there is a 
Cattleya Roezlii, Rchb. f., of which Roezl is said to have imported some 
6,000 plants, which were soon afterwards lost. The date is not recorded, 
but‘it was before their culture was much understood. It was not published 
until 1882 (Gard. Chron., 1882, ii. p. 457). Reichenbach compared it with 
C. Mossie and C. Warscewiczii, and M. A. Bleu thought it might be a 
natural hybrid between the former and C. speciosissima (Rev. Hort., 1888, 
P- 572, with plate), but it is evidently only a form of the present plant. G. 
labiata Wilsoniana, Rchb. f. (Gard. Chron., 1887, ii., p. 460) also belongs 
here. 
The species has the character of being a shy bloomer. The late Mr. Day 
observed that in his collection at Tottenham it bloomed very irregularly 
and seldom, several plants not flowering at all, though they grew and kept 
healthy. It is one of those which require warm treatment, and should 
be placed in a light position, being grown in a hanging pan oF basket 
for preference. Ona future occasion we may be able to say something 
about its varieties. 
