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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January. 1908 



The true autumn flowering C. labiate, once rare, 

 now common All the others shown are varieties 

 of this. Season, October to December 



enough, too, it was an entomologist who 

 rediscovered it. After the wonder had 

 subsided Fate's last touch of irony was hard. 

 In the first volumes of the Edinburgh 

 Philosophical Journal was found a letter of 

 Swainson in which the clue to the longed-for 

 facts was recorded, but nobody had thought 

 of looking there. I reprinted this (from the 

 Orchid Review) in American Gardening for 

 March 2, 1901, page 152. 



The type plant of C. labiata vera has three 

 to five rosy-mauve flowers on a stalk. The 

 petals and sepals are three and one-half 

 inches long, the two petals a little more than 

 two inches wide, while the three sepals are 

 quite narrow — half an inch. The lip is 

 very showily colored. It is three lobed, 

 the two lateral ones closing round the column, 

 and on the outside is about the same color 

 as the petals; the remaining lobe, called 

 the median lobe, is expanded to about two 

 inches, variously blotched and veined with 

 shades of deep crimson or magenta-purple, 

 but with a paler margin that is also crisped. 

 Extending back from this blotch is the 

 throat, usually yellowish and veined with 

 crimson-purple. This somewhat minute 

 description is given in order that the distinc- 

 tions of the important varieties may be the 

 more convincingly stated. 



As a commercial flower during the fall 

 months (September, October and Novem- 

 ber), this plant has become so popular that 

 it is practically the only orchid of that period. 

 If you see a half-dozen or so flowers of a 

 rose-colored cattleya (practically uniform 

 in marking) in the fall and particularly in 

 the retail florists' stores, it is certainly safe 

 to assume it is the "lost orchid." 



TWO SUMMER KINDS 



There are two varieties that approach the 

 type so closely that in some of their forms 

 they can hardly be separated at all except 



that they flower from May to July. C. lab- 

 iata, var. Warneri, has been called the 

 "summer labiata," and for a long time was 

 thought to be the real basic type of which 

 the rare autumn-flowering plant was an un- 

 usual form. That even received the varietal 

 qualification autumnalis. Warneri flowers 

 in June and July, being preceded by Gas- 

 kelliana, a somewhat less attractive form, 

 in which the flower is smaller in all its parts, 

 rather lighter in color, and almost devoid 

 of the rich coloring on the lip. This is 

 probably the least attractive of all the forms 

 and moreover blooms at a season when there 

 is such an abundance of outdoor gardening 

 interests that orchids are not wanted. 

 Cattleya labiata, var. Gaskelliana always 

 looks to me like the "poor relation" of this 

 rich family. 



A UNIQUE YELLOW 



A companion to the type plant in its season 

 of flowering, but so utterly different in its 

 color, is the beautiful yellow-petalled 



The variety Dcnviana is at once recognized by the 

 yellow sepals, petals and gold veinings in the throat. 

 Blooms with the type 



Dowiana. It is one of the most easily 

 recognized of all the orchids, being the only 

 erect growing cattleya of its color. There 

 is a brighter yellow in the smaller fragrant 

 flower of C. citrina, it is true, but this last 

 is always pendent, and indeed looks some- 

 what like a yellow tulip growing upside 

 down. Dow's yellow labiata has all the 

 characteristics of its family save that the 

 rose mauve of the petals and sepals is dis- 

 placed by dull yellow except for traces. 

 The lip is large, expanded, with a frilled 

 edge, deep crimson-red veined far into the 

 throat with dull yellow lines. The sub- 

 variety, called aurea or chrysotoxa, which has 

 a brighter yellow without any trace of rose 

 or crimson in the petals and clearer veining 

 in the lip, is the more esteemed. This comes 



from Costa Rica and the plants are not over- 

 plentiful, and the cut flowers are probably 

 the most expensive flowers grown for 

 market. Good blooms are often worth one 

 dollar wholesale. This cattleya is the only 

 one found north of the Isthmus of Panama, 

 the chief region of the labiata group being 

 the northern regions of South America. 

 It will never be as common as some other 

 kinds, because it is harder to grow, demand- 

 ing more heat and more light and water. 



WHERE FRAGRANCE COUNTS 



Slightly in advance of the true labiata 

 season comes the variety Eldorado, in which 

 the chief mark of distinction is again a 

 yellow coloring. But this time it is in .the 

 throat. A rich orange-yellow extends from 

 the deep purplish-crimson area. It appears 

 all the more prominent because the rest of the 

 lip clasps closely around the column. The 

 other parts of the flower in the ordinary 

 form are quite a pale rose, which also ac- 

 centuates the depth of the yellow in the 

 throat. The whole flower is generally 

 smaller than the average of the labiata 

 group and is also markedly fragrant. Too 

 much reliance must not be put on that fea- 

 ture, however, because all the varieties have 

 more or less fragrance noticeable whenever 

 a large number of blooms are together. The 

 expert, however, regards Eldorado as the 

 "fragrant labiata." 



THE MOST GORGEOUS LIPS 



There are two of these labiata cattleyas 

 that are distinguished from all others of the 

 family by the great breadth of the lip, and its 

 wonderful depth of coloring. These two are 

 Mendelli and what is generally called Gigas. 

 In the Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, 

 the latter name is given as a synonym for 

 Sanderiana, but I think that it is properly 

 Warscewiczii, as it was described by Reich- 

 enbach under that name in 1855 and later 

 as labiata, var. Warscewiczii in 1883. Mr. 

 J. E. Lager, who has traversed the region, 

 informs me that "the so-called Sanderiana is 

 a local form of Gigas, entirely isolated from 

 the type, and differs in being somewhat 



Typical plant of var. Trtanaei large petals, medium, 

 sized lip. Season. December to March 



