144 : THE ORCHID REVIEW. [May, Igto. 
AN ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM IMPORTATION. 
SoME time ago the writer had the pleasure of inspecting a large importation 
of Odontoglossum crispum in the collection of an amateur who is entirely 
his own gardener, and took down a few particulars about them which may 
be interesting to record. The history is briefly as follows. A stock or 
about 5,000 plants was purchased, and of these about 1,500 were disposed 
of at once, the remainder, about 3,500 plants, being retained. They were 
planted out in beds on either side of a rather long house, and as they 
flowered a selection of the best were potted up and the more ordinary forms 
disposed of in various ways. 
At the time of my visit a good number were in bloom or spike. It was 
estimated that about a third of the plants had bloomed, and the composi- 
tion of the collection, as far as it was then possible to estimate it, was 
decidedly interesting, The great ‘majority of the plants were what may 
be termed ordinary O. crispum, but two good blotched forms and three or 
four albinos had -flowered, also about twelve O. Hunnewellianum, five O. 
x Adriane, four O. gloriosum, six O. x “Andersonianum, two O. X 
loochristiense, one O. luteopurpureum, one believed to be O. crocidip- 
terum, and two or three other things of uncertain identity, having small 
flowers with rather narrow segments. Those that I saw included O. 
Hunnewellianum and gloriosum, forms of O. X Adriane, xX Andersoni- 
anum, and a good many O. crispum, these showing a wide range of variation 
in shape and tint, and the majority quite ordinary forms, though a few were ~ 
worth taking care of. 
Assuming that the plants all came from a single importation—though no 
direct evidence was obtainable on the point—its composition would indicate 
that it came from the Velez district, which has previously yielded most of 
the kinds mentioned. The evidence as to the presence of O. luteopur- 
pureum in that district is rather contradictory, but there is said to be a 
locality where both it and O. X Adriane occur with O. crispum (O.R. xvi., 
p- 162). By the way, it would be interesting to know if a hybrid between 
O. luteopurpureum and O. Hunnewellianum occurs there. 
The above is probably oniy a repetition of the history of many another 
importation of O. crispum, but the facts are seldom recorded in detail, and 
often difficult to obtain. Their interest lies in the fact that what we call 
O. crispum to-day includes a series of very beautiful and complex hybrids, 
whose history and composition can only be ascertained by comparison with 
each other and with the species among which they are found, hence the 
importance of knowing the forms which grow together in any given district. 
A very interesting biological problem is involved, for these plants have 
probably been intercrossing for thousands of years. 
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