THE BOOK OF ORCHIDS 



producing pendulous crowded racemes of flowers, 

 which have a pleasing fragrance, somewhat like that of 

 new mown hay. 



Pleione 



Few, if any, of our smaller growing Orchids are more 

 beautiful than Pleiones when well grown. During the 

 month of November they form valuable decorative plants, 

 and are also very useful for furnishing cut flowers, espe- 

 cially as at that time there is a scarcity of Orchid bloom. 

 They are Alpine plants, coming from the Himalayan 

 mountains, at elevations ranging from 2000 to 10,000 

 feet, and are found growing on mossy banks, and at the 

 base of the trunks of lofty trees, sometimes in shade, 

 sometimes fully exposed to the sun. The structure of 

 the flowers of the Pleione is essentially that of Coelo- 

 gyne, but it may be distinguished from that genus by 

 the pseudo bulbs, which are of annual duration only. 

 The varieties, P. concolor, P. JVallichiana, P. precox, P. 

 lagenaria, and P. maculata, should be grown near to the 

 roof glass of the Cattleya or intermediate house. Those 

 from greater altitudes, as P. humilis, P. Hooker iana and 

 its pretty variety, brachyglossa, do best when hung up 

 close to a ventilator in the cool house. These cooler- 

 growing species generally flower about January or Feb- 

 ruary. The best time to repot Pleiones is immediately 

 after the flowers fade, but it is not necessary to disturb 

 them annually unless the soil has become soured, as they 

 may be grown in the same pots for two seasons and still 

 produce plenty of flowers. When repotting, turn the 

 plants out of their pots or pans, removing most of the 

 stale soil, and cutting off all roots that are dead. Instead 

 of dividing the pseudo bulbs and bedding them out as 

 is often practised, repot them in clumps, the pseudo 

 bulbs almost touching each other, and merely pull off 



