£0 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [JANUARY, 1903. 
Vine House, Haslingden. The photograph here reproduced was taken and 
kindly forwarded to us by Mr. G. T’Anson, of Bush Hill Park, and 
represents the inflorescence which was exhibited by Mr. Warburton at the 
R.H.S. meeting on June toth last. The variety was first exhibited at the 
Drill. Hall by Messrs. Lucien Linden & Co., of Moortebeek, Brussels, on 
March 23rd, 1897, and gained a First-class Certificate, as recorded at page 
127 of our fifth volume. It was afterwards purchased by Mr. Warburton, 
who exhibited it at a meeting of the Manchester Orchid Society on March 
6th, 1902, when it received the unusual award of a Gold Medal. As will 
be seen from the figure, the shape of the flower is excellent, and the 
blotches very large, while their dark brown-purple, or almost claret-purple 
colour, which shows through to the back of the segments, gives an extremely 
rich effect. The following figures have been published :—Gard. Chron., 
1897, i., p. 268, fig. 90; Lindenia, xii., t. 568; Gard. Mag., 1898, p. 406, 
with fig.; and Garden, 1902, ii., p. 253, with fig. If these figures are 
compared with the present one it will be seen that the flower has con- 
siderably improved since its first appearance, the blotches being larger 
and more aggregated together. The Garden states that ‘‘one plant 
recently changed hands for the record price of 700 guineas.” 
It may be interesting for purposes of comparison to give illustrations of 
several other varieties of this popular species, which is one of the most 
vafiable Orchids in cultivation. This variability takes the form of differ- 
ences in the shape and breadth of the segments, forming “round” and 
starry’ flowers; the purity or otherwise of the ground colour, whether 
white or suffused with rose-pink or lilac, or the suffusion confined to the 
sepals; and in the shape, size, colour, and arrangement of the spots. In 
the latter character the variation is enormous. The spots may be confined 
to the lip, to the lip and sepals, or they may occur on all the segments. In 
size they vary from quite minute dots, which are then usually numerous, 
down to few, large, irregular, and more or less confluent blotches, while 
their colour may range from cinnamon to deep red-brown, rose, or claret- 
purple. And there are a few varieties which owe their peculiarity to some 
abnormal character, by which the markings are almost confined to the 
petals, as in the remarkable varieties Kinlesideanum, Oakfield Sunrise and 
Lady Jane (the latter figured at page 217 of our last volume).. The 
number of named varieties is now very large, and many of them are quite 
distinct from a florist’s standpoint, though some would not stand the test 
of comparison side by side. Many of the older varieties have been lost 
sight of, and supposed novelties are frequently named without comparison 
with pre-existing forms. And many named, and even certificated varieties 
are very imperfectly described, which further increases the difficulty of 
keeping exact records. 
