L^LIOCATTLEYA (HYBRIDA) PHCEBE a Brim. 



A hybrid derived from Cattleya Mossiae fertilised with the pollen of Laelia cinnabarina, and combining well the characters of the two parents. The 

 pseudo-bulbs are fusiform-clavate, each bearing a single dark green oblong leaf. The scape bears three flowers, which might almost be described as an 

 enlarged and glorified Laelia cinnabarina, as they closely resemble those of that parent in shape, though the petals are two-and-a-half inches long by three- 

 quarters of an inch broad, and the sepals and lip proportionately larger. The front lobe of the lip is much undulated, and of a brilliant purple-crimson, while 

 the rest of the flower is rich orange, inclining to Indian yellow. Thus it will appear that in the flowers the characters of Laelia cinnabarina largely prepon- 



L^elio-Cattleya (hybrida) Phcebe, O'Brien in Gard. Chron., 1892, i., p. 791, fig. 114; Orchid Review, I., p. 357. 



The beautiful hybrid figured in the annexed plate was raised in the collection of Norman C. Cookson, Esq., Oakwood, Wylam-on-Tyne, and flowered 

 in May, 1892, when it received a First-class Certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society. The seed is said to have been sown in 1886, and therefore was 

 six years old when it reached the flowering stage. By some mistake Laelia purpurata was given as one of the parents in the original description, instead of 

 L. cinnabarina. Laelio-Cattleya x Hippolyta, which had previously flowered with Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, of Chelsea, was obtained from the reverse 

 cross, and the two resemble each other very closely in general character, though the present one has the front lobe of the lip more brilliantly coloured. It is 

 a most beautiful hybrid, and a welcome addition to the group, on account of its brilliant colour, which is not too common in the group. Like most hybrids, 

 it is a good grower. R. A. R. 



drawings represent the lip, column (seen from the front and side), and pollii 



This may be said to be the most beautiful of its class which the skill and perseverance of the hybridiser has yet given to 

 us, although there are several others in which various shades of the much admired Indian yellow tints prevail. With 

 these garden hybrids it is seldom that any appreciable quantity is raised and nursed to maturity, and consequently we 

 have not much to guide us in forming an adequate idea as to their variability from the same sowing, although the few 

 opportunities for comparison indicate that scarcely two plants of these beautiful hybrids are exactly alike in every 

 particular, strikingly handsome though they all are. This variability in the first crosses leads to the supposition that it 

 will be still greater when they are again used for hybridising, and the wealth of beauty which the pursuit of this interest- 

 ing work into the second and subsequent generations has in store is pleasant to speculate upon. Apart from the beauties 

 of the flowers thus obtained, the extraordinary free habit of growth of all home-raised hybrids is a great incentive 

 to continue the work. 



The hybrid has partaken of the character of both parents. The cinabar colour of the mother plant is suffused not 

 only in sepals and petals, but also over the labellum, and the latter is heavily striped and blotched with the red usually 

 observed in Cattleya Mossiae. The edges of the lip are charmingly fringed, have partaken strongly of Laelia cinnabarina, 

 and it is a better and more showy hybrid than Laelio-Cattleya Hippolyta, the lip being fully open and round, and so 

 again partaking more of C. Mossiae. 



The intermediate house is a safe place for all the hybrid Laelias and Cattleyas, and for their general treatment they 

 require similar management to the imported species ; but it should be noted that, in their younger stages at least, they 

 require a greater supply of water at the roots than the species from which they were raised, during the resting season ; 

 indeed, to withhold water from them for long would retard their growth considerably. 



Our plate was taken from a plant in the collection of Monsieur le Comte de Massa, Chateau de Franconville, par Luzarches, France. 



