52 
CXCIIL—LIST OF ORCHIDS FLOWERED AT KEW 
IN 1890 
Since 1887 a record has been kept of the Orchids which have flowered 
each year at Kew. The list for last year, 1890, does not materially 
extent from all other collections, except those of similar establishments. 
No attempt is made to give prominence to the most showy flowered by 
the cultivation of a large number of examples. On the other hand, 
kinds of scientific interest, such as the ordinary collector would consider 
his notice. In the limited space available for Orchids as com- 
prehensive a collection of species as possible is aimed at. Consequently, 
time of the year is the collection wanting in flower interest. Thus, 
whilst the highest number of species flowered in any one month was 125 
in May, the lowest was 85 in January. The average for each month 
was a fraction over one hundred 
A few words on the growth of the Kew collection of Orchids mee J pe 
interesting. In 1811 the number of species in cultivation at Kew 
only 37. It was not until some thirty years after this that efforts aad 
made to obtain a representative collection of these plants, which at that 
time had be egun to attract the attention of horticulturists generally. 
Soon after Sir William Hooker’s appointment as Director in 1841, he 
made arrangements with the Messrs. Loddisis of Hackney, at that time 
the most celebrated of E uc nurserymen, to supply Kew with 200 
species of Orchids for 50 " 
The collection of Orchids E. by the Rev. J. Clowes, of 
Broughton Hall, near uero. was bequeathed by him to Kew, 
whither it was transferred in 1846. Liberal gifts of Orchids were made 
about the same time by the Duke of Bedford and others. Exchanges 
were also made with growers of Orchids, and collectors were instructed 
to send home living plants of this family, until by the ers 1850 the 
collection at Kew had increased to 880 s species. From some cause or 
othcr the number fell again to 638 species in 1864, but °з 1880 it had 
again risen to about 950 species. At the present time (Jan. 1891) 
there are in cultivation at Kew 1,342 species, шел sed in 158 genera. 
These figures do not include 174 varieties and over 100 undetermined 
plants. The collection is kept up by means of = poked and a small 
нечай about 20/. annually, for plants which сап only be obtained by 
ome "€ the most noteworthy amongst - genera represented in the 
following tables are :—Dendrobium, of which 69 — flowered last 
Masdevallia, 53 species ; в ogyne. ner species ; Oncidium, 40 
бан Odontoglossum, 28 species ; Cattleya ‚ 24 еван and Cypri- 
pedium, 38 species (exclusive of hybr ids). Amon ngst smaller or less | 
known genera may be noted :—Angrecum, 17 species; ик anm 
19 species; Catasetum, 9 species; Pleurothallis, 20 species; and 
ies 
The flowering period of many Orchids extends over a considerable 
энн of the year, some, such as, I -— — Tn sd neha longt- 
folium, Masdevallia he ita aa and Odontoglossum crispum, which 
were in flower all through 
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