AUGUST, 1903.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 253 
CIRRHOPETALUM ROXBURGHII. 
It is remarkable that an Indian species of Cirrhopetalum described’ 
upwards of seventy years ago should still have to be classed as imperfectly 
known. The above plant was originally described as Aérides radiatum,. 
by Roxburgh (F/. Ind. iii, p. 476), from specimens found by Dr. Carey,. 
‘indigenous on trees in the delta of the Ganges, where it blossoms. 
about the beginning of the rains.” It was afterwards called Cirrho- 
petalum Roxburghii by Lindley (Gen. and Sp. Orch., p. 58), who, however» 
knew it only from description and an unpublished drawing. Some sixty 
years later it was figured in the Icones Plantarum (t. 2057, fig. A), whem 
Sir Joseph Hooker remarked :—‘‘ The figure is a copy of Roxburgh’s. 
drawing of his Aérides radiatum, a plant which is probably common in 
the Sunderbunds, but of which I have seen no specimen.” At length 
the species appeared in cultivation, a photograph of a plant from Sir 
Trevor Lawrence’s collection appearing in the Transactions of the Royal 
Horticultural Society (xxvi, p. 139, fig. 70), when the inflorescence was 
described as like a tiny pink parasol. Now it has flowered with Mr. 
F. W. Moore, in the Royal Botanic Garden, Glasnevin. The plant forms. 
a neat little tuft, the pseudobulbs being small, separated by short intervals: 
on a creeping rhizome, and monophyllous, the leaves being oblong, and 
about 14 to 2 inches long. The scapes are rather longer than the leaves, 
aad bear about ten flowers in a graceful umbel, measuring about 1} inches. 
in diameter. The flowers are straw-coloured, with three purple lines on 
the dorsal sepal and petals, while the lateral sepals are dotted all over 
with dull red-purple, and the lip is yellow, lined with red. The dorsal sepali 
and petals are setiferous at the apex and strongly ciliate at the margin, 
Roxburgh’s drawing shows the lateral sepals bright yellow and unspotted, 
but a trace of spotting appears in the dissections, and some other drawings. 
by the same native artist are faulty in colour. Other details are quite in 
agreement, and the rediscovery of such a long-lost plant is interesting. 
R. A. ROLFE.. 
— ne 
ORCHID HYBRIDISATION. 
(Continued from page 217). 
THE pricking off of the young seedlings requires to be done with a good 
deal of care and discretion, especially if, as sometimes happens, they come 
up too thickly. In the latter case it is a good plan to prepare another pam 
of compost. A sharp pointed stick should be used for the purpose of lifting 
them, care being taken not to injure them, and they should be placed in a 
minute cavity in the new compost, and given a light spraying to settle: 
