THE ORCHID REVIEW. 325 
SCHOMBURGKIA THOMSONIANA. 
AT the R. H. S. meeting held on July 2nd last, an Award of Merit was 
given to Schomburgkia Thomsoniana from the coilection of Sir Trevor 
Lawrence, Bart., Burford, Dorking. Itis a rare species, hitherto imperfectly 
known, and it may be interesting to bring together its history in the 
following note. 
Schomburgkia Thomsoniana, was described by Reichenbach in 1887 
(Gard. Chron., 1887, ii., p. 38), from a plant which flowered in the collec- 
tion of W. J. Thomson, Esq., St. Helens, Lancashire, in June of that year. 
It is also said to have been exhibited at the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
provincial show at Liverpool in June of the previous year. On looking up 
the report I find that it was exhibited in a group of twelve exotic Orchids, 
and it is noted as “a Schomburgkia, with the growth of tibicinis, but with 
a spike about three feet long with a dozen flowers,” the sepals and petals 
being pale yellow and the lip deep purple—‘‘a beautiful thing” (Gard. 
Chron., 1886, xxvi., p. 22). The latter raceme is said to have borne fifteen 
flowers, and one of these is preserved at Kew. Nothing whatever is stated 
respecting the origin of the plant, and its habitat remained unknown until 
1888. In May of that year Mr. W. Fawcett, F.L.s., Director of Public 
Gardens and Plantations, Jamaica, visited the Cayman Islands, in the 
Caribbean Sea, about 200 miles west of Jamaica, and brought back dried 
and living specimens of a Schomburgkia, which were submitted to Kew for 
determination, and which were identified with S. Thomsoniana, Rchb. f. 
(Kew Bull., 1888, p. 162). A further account of the species was given by Mr. 
Fawcett in a note in the Jamaica Bulletin for 1894 (p. 74). After reciting its 
previous history, the author observes :— 
“Dr. Strachan visited the islands in 1892, and noted two varieties, of 
which only one grew in Cayman Brac. He has been good enough to 
contribute the following paragraphs :— 
“*S. Thomsoniana var. albopurpurea. Flower larger, colour cream or 
white and purple, lip with throat deep purple, and tip but little recurved. 
““*S. Thomsoniana var. minor. Flower smaller, colour canary-yellow 
and purple, lip without much purple in throat, and tip extremely reflexed.’ 
“*WVar. minor was the only one I collected in Cayman Brac, but in 
Grand Cayman I found both varieties, and var. albopurpurea was in greater 
abundance than minor. In habit and general structure both varieties show 
no marked difference.’—Henry Strachan, F.L.S. 
“Mr. Rolfe writes from Kew Gardens that the specimens sent by me to 
Kew from Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac are practically uniform in size— 
evidently var. minor. Reichenbach’s original is distinctly larger, segments 
finch longer. This may represent the variety albopurpurea.” 
