THE ORCHID REVIEW. 79 
CYPRIPEDIUM NIGRITUM. 
SoME time ago Messrs. Hugh Low & Co., of Clapton, imported a Cypri- 
pedium from Borneo, which they suspected might prove new, as it differed 
in the foliage from any of the known species from that island. It has now 
flowered, and although quite different from any of the well-known species, 
is still probably not new, for there is one B which, though ibed 
fourteen years ago, is still practically unknown. The following is the 
original description :—* A Bornese introduction of the New Bulb Company, 
Lion Walk, Colchester. Leaves like those of Cypripedium virens, light 
green, with darker reticulations. The flower comes near to that of Cypri- 
pedium barbatum. The colours are those of a very dark variety. The 
odd sepal is oblong, acute, not almost circular, thus coming nearer that of 
Cypripedium purpuratum. The veins stand much nearer to one another. 
The petals are much narrower, and the marginal warts stand partly over 
the middle to the apex. The equal sepals form a very narrow body. There 
are obscure warts on the stalk of the lip. Staminode like that of Cypri- 
pedium barbatum, but with intermediate small teeth in front, and longer 
angles on each side of the dorsal sinus. Thus it is near Cypripedium 
barbatum, but it appears quite distinct.”—Rchb. f. in Gard. Chron., 1882, 
li., p. 102. 
Whether this plant has anywhere lingered in cultivation is doubtful, 
at all events I have never been able to ascertain what it really was, though 
I believe that Messrs. Low have now re-introduced it. Their plant, at all 
events, has leaves closely resembling those of C. virens; the dorsal sepal 
is much smaller than in C. barbatum, with which the species can perhaps 
best be compared; the petals are much narrower, and the warts exterid 
nearly to the apex; and, lastly, the staminode agrees fairly well with the 
above description. There are one or two discrepancies, but these may be 
more apparent than real, for it frequently happens that the first flowers 
Produced after importation are somewhat abnormal, and it is most unlikely 
that there should be in Borneo two different species each possessing the 
characters above pointed out. We have here another example of the 
difficulty of identifying a species from an imperfect description, when the 
original specimen is carefully hidden away so that no one can possibly refer 
toit. Ifthere should be any one who saw the original C. nigritum, or who 
knows of any existing plant, I hope they will help to clear the matter up, 
for under the circumstances the above identification can only be a pro- 
visional one, and there is another curious form in cultivation rather near 
G: barbatum, but with a very narrow dorsal sepal, which was at first pers 
to be abnormal, and of which no one seems to know the native country. It 
is tobe hoped that materials will in time be forthcoming to settle these 
