174 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
weakly plants, but also for others which may happen to be “ miffy”’ in 
growth, and not getting on well on the stages. A trial with such plants on 
the shelf often ends successfully—even more so than suspending them. 
THE CYPRIPEDILUM GROUP. 
A CORRESPONDENT asks us to point out the characters and differences of the 
genera belong to the Cypripedilum group, as he often sees the names men- 
tioned without properly understanding them, and the whole of his sixty 
varieties have been purchased under the name Cypripedium. Possibly 
others may have experienced a similar difficulty. 
The genus Cypripedium was originally based upon our European species, 
C. Calceolus, but others were soon added, and when the tropical species 
began to be discovered they were also incorporated in the genus, apparently 
under the belief that they were identical in structure. In 1842, however, 
Lindley wrote :—‘‘ There is something in the habit of the Indian Lady’s 
Slippers so peculiar that it was fora long time thought that they would be 
found to possess characters to separate them from their associates,” though 
é 
he failed to discover what that something was. In 1846 the same author 
described a very curious Tropical American plant, under the name of 
Uropedium Lindeni, which differed from Cypripedium in having the lip 
prolonged into a narrow tail, like the petals—hence the name. In 1854 
Reichenbach pointed out that this plant had a three-celled ovary, like 
the Apostasiez, as had also all the Tropical American species of Cypri- 
pedium, which latter he separated under the name of Selenipedium. It was 
subsequently discovered that Uropedium Lindeni was only a peloriate or 
abnormal state of Selenipedium caudatum, and the former name was aban- 
doned. In 1882 Pfitzer removed the species of Selenipedium having 
coriaceous leaves, and united them with the Old World species of Cypri- 
pedium of similar habit, under the name of Paphiopedilum, the characters 
relied upon being the conduplicate leaves and deciduous perianth. In 1896 
it was shown that the last-named group contained two very distinct genera, 
and the Tropical _American species were separated under the name of 
Phragmipedium (Rolfe in Orch. Rev., iv., p. 331), and a detailed account of 
the different genera was given. 
The question has been somewhat complicated by a change in spelling 
respecting which a few words seem necessary. The original name was spelt 
by Linnzus, Cypripedium, but its derivation was explained as being in 
allusion to the slipper-shaped lip—literally “‘ Venus’s Slipper.” Ascherson, 
accordingly, in 1866, amended the spelling to Cypripedilum, on the ground 
that Cypripedium meant ‘ Venus’s Foot,” and Pfitzer afterwards brought 
the other genera into line. Much controversy has arisen respecting this 
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