January, 1908. ] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 21 
HABITATS OF BRAZILIAN ORCHIDS. 
I THINK the following extract from a letter received from a friend residing 
in Brazil may be of interest to some of the readers of the Orchid Review. 
He is very keen, and has a fine collection of Orchids in his garden, most 
of them having been collected by himself. I hope we may get an article 
from his own pen, which I am sure would be of much interest :— 
“The knowledge of the Cattleya and Lelia districts seems to be very 
limited among your Orchid growers, or else it is withheld by the importers 
for the sake of their pockets. I saw an article in a recent number of the 
Orchid Review (vol. xv. p. 279) in regard to the habitat of Cattleya velutina, 
or rather mentioning it in an article on Cattleya hybrids. Mr. Rolfe says 
that the Flora Brasiliensis only records C. velutina as coming from the 
Province of Rio de Janeiro. This Cattleya has a range from 12° to 25° 
south latitude, and from about 41° to 50° west longitude. As far as my 
personal knowledge goes it occurs at 700 to 800 metres above sea level. 
I never heard of it being found lower down. 
‘We are about 800 metres here, and some of the finest specimens that I 
have ever seen came from about fifty miles south of here. They grow in 
this State (Sao Paulo) in the same districts as C. bicolor, C. Loddigesu, C. 
Harrisone and Lelia crispa. I have two natural hybrids found by 
myself, one between C. velutina and C. Harrisone, and the other between 
C. velutina and C. bicolor. I have also a cross between C. bicolor and C. 
Loddigesii—that is a beauty. 
‘The collectors here strip everything when they find a lot worth having. 
I was foolish enough to tell one of them where he could find C. velutina, 
and he took out ten thousand plants, and did not leave one for seed. 
I will never do it again. C. velutina grows in this State—in small clumps 
of bush scattered over the plains, rarely more than six or eight feet from 
the ground, where there is plenty of light but little direct sunlight. They 
flower here in February and March, at the same time as C. bicolor and 
Harrisonz, and in the same district, and are very fragrant. The C. velutina 
and Harrisonz cross that I have is also fragrant, but the other is not.” 
My friend sent me by post some Cattleya and Lelia seed of extra good 
varieties, which was sown on the ist of October and germinated at once, 
and is now, (Ist December) in some cases, the size of No. 4 shot. I think 
that this shows how much better seed is that has matured under natural 
conditions, than in our houses. 
It would be of much interest if some one who has a collection of Orchids 
would try hybridising in the country where the plants grow, and having 
selected a place under natural conditions, i.e. the forest, sow the seed there, 
and keep a record of the time in which the plants come to perfection. 
