THE ORCHID REVIEW. 369 
CYPRIPEDIUM FRED. HARDY. 
‘On November 14th, 1896, a very interesting little plant from the collection of 
F. Hardy, Esq., Tyntesfield, Ashton-on-Mersey, received an Award of Merit 
from the R. H. S., under the provisional name of Cypripedium Fred. Hardy. 
Shortly afterwards it was figured in these pages (vol. v. p. 17), when its his- 
tory was also given, so far as that was known. There remained, however, 
some uncertainty as to whether the plant was an albino of C. Charlesworthii 
ora natural hybrid. The general similarity to that species, and the identical 
staminode, favoured the former view, but the differently shaped dorsal sepal, 
and the relatively narrow petals, were characters difficult to account for, and 
the point never seems to have been cleared up. In Sander’s Orchid Guide the 
plant is enumerated as a natural hybrid between C. Charlesworthii and C. 
Fic. 52. CYPRIPEDIUM Frep Harpy. 
Spicerianum? The circumstance now to be related rather tends to deepen 
the mystery. Mr. R. Eichel, Exotic Nursery, Eldwick, Bingley, sends for 
inspection a twin-flowered scape, with the uppermost flower, of ‘‘a seed- 
ling raised from C. Spicerianum x Charlesworthii,” which is said to have 
taken ‘‘ just over three years from sowing the seed until the flower stage 
was reached.” The plant is said to be still very small. Being much struck 
with the general resemblance of the flower to that of C. Fred. Hardy we 
wrote to Mr. Eichel asking if there was any possible doubt in the matter. 
His reply is that there is absolutely no doubt about the parentage, and that 
he has two more plants, which, however, are too small to flower. The 
