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242 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [AUGUST, 1910+ 
Cattleya Mossi has been known for nearly three-quarters of a century, 
having been received from La Guayra, in Venezuela, by Mr. George Green, 
of Liverpool, in September, 1836. Soon afterwards it was imported by Mr. 
Parker, of the Hornsey Nurseries, and others. It flowered for the first time 
in this country in the collection of Mrs. Moss, Otterspool, near Liverpool» 
and was figured and described in the Botanical Magazine, in 1839 (t. 3669), 
by Sir William Hooker, who dedicated it to Mrs. Moss. © Lindley shortly 
afterwards made it a variety of C. labiata, and as such it was considered for 
many years, but of late its claim to rank as a distinct species has again been 
recognised. It is still one of the best known and most popular Cattleyas in 
cultivation. ‘‘Its native home,’ Messrs. Veitch remark (Man. Orch. ii. 
p. 23), ‘‘is on that portion of the mountain range extending along the north 
of Venezuela, near the coast, that lies between Porto Cabello and Cape 
Codera, and where, judging from the large and frequent importations 
received in this country for many years past, it must be very abundant. It 
is one of the most variable of Cattleyas as regards the coloration of the 
Jabellum, so much so that scarcely any two plants produce flowers with lips 
alike, though all show the characteristic markings which chiefly distinguish 
this from every other Cattleya of the labiata group :—thus we find, in some 
subvarieties, the rich purple of the anterior lobe predominates and gives 
its tone to nearly the whole visible surface of the lip; in others, it is the 
orange-yellow of the disc that spreads over the greater portion of the throat 
and anterior lobe ; in others again, the rich purple colouring is reduced to 
a few divergent streaks, and its place is taken by a delicate rosy mauve not 
infrequently bordered with white. These forms are connected by others in 
which every imaginable shade of the predominant colours occur, passing 
from one into the other by gradations so gentle as to render futile any 
attempt to designate sub-varieties by particular names.” 
Albino varieties, of course, form an exception, and of these the most 
distinct are var. Wageneri, having pure white flowers, with a yellow disc, 
and Reineckeana, in which the sepals and petals are white and the front 
lobe of the lip marbled with rosy crimson. Both, however, are extremely 
variable, and between the letter, especially, and the type, numerous inter- 
mediate forms occur which have received distinctive varietal names, though 
many of them cou!d be better described as individuals than varieties. 
er 
CALLISTA AMABILIS.—The history of the long-lost Callista amabilis, 
Lour., and of a plant identified with it by Dr. Kranzlin, were recently given 
(pp. 99, 100), and the latter has now flowered with Dr. H. Goldschmidt, who 
has kindly forwarded flowers. They are very different from those of 
Loureiro’s plant, and I believe represent a light-coloured form of 
Dendrobium hercoglossum, Rchb. f.—R. A. R. 
