20 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
raised one as to leave no doubt of their common origin. The one difference 
is that the wild plant has a crimson-purple eye, something like C. vestita 
rubro-oculata, while the garden plant, as is well known, has a white eye. 
In other respects, shape, size, and colour, the two are practically identical, 
but the wild plant might be called C. x Veitchii oculata, in order to 
distinguish it. That Calanthe x Veitchii should occur as a natural hybrid 
is a very interesting matter, and the ,wonder is that it was not detected 
before. It must, however, be remembered that the parent species are so 
easily propagated in gardens that they are not often imported, and it may 
be very rare in a wild state. 
DO CYPRIPEDIUMS SPORT? 
This question is raised in a recent number of the Gardeners’ Chronicle 
by “‘P. W.” (1893, ii. p. 753), who mentions a plant of Cypripedium x 
Dauthieri, The Albino, in the collection of R. H. Measures, Esq., The 
Woodlands, Streatham, which is continually varying. It is described as 
bearing the same relation to C. x Dauthieri that C. insigne Sanderz bears 
to ordinary insigne. It appears that at one season of flowering this plant 
will be C. x Dauthieri pure and simple, while at another it will revert to 
its original character, and become an albino again. Its origin does not 
appear to be known, but is apparently very near, if not identical with C. x 
Dauthieri var. Poggio Gherardo, N. E. Br., which originally appeared 
in the collection of H. J. Ross, Esq., Poggio Gherardo, Florence, 
Italy, as a sport from C. x Dauthieri, but which Mr. Ross, in a letter 
just received, accompanied by a flower, states has kept true for five 
successive years. It may be briefly described as a light green variety, 
with a slight bronzy tint on the outer half of the petals, and remarkably 
different from the ordinary form. C. x Dauthieri is curiously sportive, for 
the variety Rossianum, Rchb. f. (syn. marmoratum, Hort.), in which the 
flowers are irregularly striped and banded with purple brown, even on the — ; 
lip, appeared about the same time, or a little previously, in this collection. 
Mr. Ross has also a third Harlequin-coloured sport, half yellow, - half 
chestnut, which he has called variety Janet Ross. This, too, we have 
seen, and it is like nothing else among Cypripediums. This sportive 
character of C. x Dauthieri is very curious, seeing that it has the same 
parentage as C. x Harrisianum, of which it may be considered a light- 
coloured variety. Sports may be expected among some of the hybrids of 
much mixed parentage which are now being raised. The following are 
references to the forms mentioned above :— 
Cypripedium x Dauthieri, var. Rossianum, Rchb. f. in Gard. Chron. -» 1888, i. p. 4257 
syn., var. marmoratum, Rev. Hort. Belg., 1889, 241, with plate. 
D., var. Poggio Gherardo, N. E. Br. in Gard. Chron., 
1891 a . 426; Bull. Soc- 
Hiss: Ort, 1891, p- 336, t. 11. of P bet ' 
re 
BS as aa 
