Sept. 14, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



281 



Natural f^tetorg* 



ORCHIDS, WHAT ARE THEY?— III. 



( Concluded from p. 60.) 



The genus Cattleya, also South American, rivals Odonto- 



glossum in beauty, and is equally apt to form artificial, if 



which stretches across from New Granada to British 

 Guayana, and in Southern Brazil. 



The essential characters of Cattleya are : sepals free, 

 nearly equal, spreading ; petals broader than sepals ; 

 lips attached to the base of column ; column long, robust, 

 rarely winged, often incurved ; pollinia, four in two pairs. 



Cattleya labiala vera has flowers from five to six inches 



Cattleya Labiata Vera (after Veitch). 



not ^natural hybrids. Its favourite centres are three : in 

 Mexico and Guatemala, in that part of South America 



in diameter, sepals and petals, bright satiny rose, faintly 

 touched with mauve ; the anterior lobe of the lip is a rich 



