Mrs. C. Moore, an extremely beautiful form of the very variable C. labiata 

 var. Trianai remarKable for large and deeply colored lip and broad petals tippea 

 with deep color. Compare with type on next page 



C. Hardyana, an interesting hybrid of the labiata varieties Warscewczit and 

 Dcftoiana. Deep rose with yellow lines on the lip; flowering in late summer. The 

 mottled effect is unique. See the parents on the following pages 



All the CattleyaS Worth Growing— By Leonard Barron, yZ 



THE VARIETIES OF CATTLEYA LABIATA WILL ALWAYS BE THE MOST POPULAR ORCHIDS BECAUSE THEY HAVE 

 THE LARGEST FLOWERS, LAST THE LONGEST, CAN BE HAD THE WHOLE YEAR AND ARE EASY TO GROW 



[EDITOR'S NOTE. — This is the sixteenth of the "Little Monographs" which attempt to show what species are the best in each genus, and why. The present article deals 

 only with the florist's cattleyas, i. e., the favorites for cutting. The collector's cattleyas, interesting for greenhouse decoration and judged by different standards, will be treated later.] 



THE best orchids for the average man 

 who wants plenty of flowers are the cat- 

 tleyas and the best of the cattleyas are those 

 that comprise the "labiata group" (C. labiata 

 and its numerous varieties.) In one or an- 

 other of its forms its season covers the 

 entire year. The flowers are six to eight 

 inches across, and as many as six have been 

 seen on one "spike, " but usually three or 

 four. The color is normally light rose 

 tinged with maroon with the expanded 

 portion of the lip crimson, perhaps having 

 a frilled edge of white; the throat yellow 

 more or less; it varies to much deeper color, 

 to pink and to white. Cattleya labiata is 

 thus perhaps the most remarkable plant 

 in cultivation. These different varieties 

 of the one species have been a source of no 

 little bother to the student, and have even 

 been regarded as so many distinct species. 

 The type plant, the first of a new genus, was 

 named in honor of Mr. Cattley, an English 

 amateur, with whom it first flowered in 1818, 



and the specific name was given because 

 of the conspicuous lip. Somehow it never 

 has had a popular name, and really doesn't 

 need one. 



One of the reasons why orchids are so 

 interesting is that there is a fragment of 

 personal history about so many of the most 

 important. This plant of Mr. Cattley 

 opened its flowers in November. It had 

 been sent over from South America but 

 without any exact record of its locality, and 

 hunt and search as collectors did, never 

 another plant of the true autumn-flowering 

 labiata was discovered for many years. 

 It was about 1889 that I recollect the intro- 

 duction by a Belgian dealer of a "new" 

 autumn-flowering Cattleya Warocqueana. 

 Its advent was heralded with great joy as 

 a substitute for the long-lost true labiata. 



But orchid collecting had by that time 

 become a keenly followed industry, one 

 collector dogging the movements of his com- 

 petitors in the closest manner, and so, 

 281 



almost at the same time, an English dealer 

 startled the world of horticulture and sent 

 no small flutter of excitement among the 

 botanists by blazoning forth the news of the 

 rediscovery of the long-lost, almost mythical, 

 labiata vera. It was true, and the "new" 

 species in Belgium proved to be the old one 

 that everybody had been seeking, but had 

 not recognized when it was at last found. 

 It had not come from the reputed region. 

 To-day, the true autumn-flowering labiata 

 is to be had in quantity. Before the redis- 

 covery, a piece of the original importation, 

 having but two growths, was worth $1,050 

 (the price actually paid); you could buy a 

 couple of hundred or more larger plants 

 to-day for that sum. Sander, of England, 

 sent four men at different times to follow, 

 step by step, the path of the original discov- 

 erer. The facts are that Swainson did not 

 collect the plants himself, but secured 

 them from others. His real business was 

 hunting insects, not plants and, curiously 



