40 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [ FEBRUARY, 1910. 
PLEUROTHALLIS CRINIFERA. 
A Tiny little gem of an Orchid has just flowered in the collection of the 
Rev. J. C. B. Fletcher, Mundham Vicarage, Chichester, and proves to be 
Pleurothallis crinifera, a species described by Rodriguez in 1877 (Gen. et. Sp. 
Orch. nav., i. p. 16). Mr. Fletcher remarks: “1 enclose an inflorescence 
which I cannot at all recognise, and I have met with no one who can. It 
has a small creeping rhizome, with leaves closely set together, and the 
flowers are freely given, and spring close to the rhizome.’’ The leaf sent is 
nearly orbicular, fleshy, light green, covered with round purple spots, and 
the short inflorescence bears four flowers, about a third of an inch long, 
and covered with long whitish hairs outside. The dorsal sepal is oblong, 
light green, with pale brown dots, and the united lateral sepals are red- 
purple, with a little green marbling near the margin. The petals are 
broadly spathulate at the apex, and light green in colour, while the lip is 
three-lobed, and whitish, with some purple spots. It is a native of the 
Province of Minas Geraes, Brazil, and was discovered by Barbosa 
Rodriguez, growing on branches of trees near the Rio Correnteza and Rio 
des Antas. A figure appears in Martius Flora Brasiliensis (iii. pt. 4, p- 504, 
t. 100, fig. 3). Its appearance in cultivation is interesting, and it should 
succeed suspended in the Cattleya house. 
K. A. K. 
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POLLEN-PRESERVING TUBES. 
WE have pleasure in enclosing a few Smith’s Pollen-preserving tubes, some 
of which contain stored pollen up to eleven months old. We thought you 
might like to see the pollen, and the condition of it, after so long a storage. 
We also enclose particulars of crosses made from stored pollen, in which 
_ actual seedlings have already germinated, which proves, at least, that fertile 
seeds are produced by the using of preserved pollen. We hope to have many 
other germinations from seed produced by stored pollen in the near future. 
We have never had any difficulty in getting capsules to swell, and produce 
apparently as much fertile seed as when fresh pollen is used. We hope 
these early results of our experiment may interest you. We enclose a few 
tubes for any experiments you may care to make. ; 
A. J. KEELING & Sons. 
[The tubes sent contain pollen a year old, which appears quite healthy, 
and the records show that pollen of P. insigne, Harefield Hall var., and P. 
x Leeanum giganteum were used when sixty days old, and gave fertile 
seeds, which are still germinating. The object, of course, is to be able to 
intercross species which flower at different seasons. The tubes were 
described at page 29 of our last volume.—Ep.] 
