40 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



CYMBIDIUM RHODOCHILUM * 



This new and handsome plant was 

 brought from Madagascar by M.Wa- 

 pur, in 1900, and first flowered at Kew 

 in June of the following year. It was 

 found growing in the forks of trees at a 

 height of 1,800 to 2,000 feet in com- 

 pany with the Madagascar Stag's-Horn 

 Fern ; in fact, the roots of the Cymbi- 

 dium were growing freely amongst the 

 barren fronds of the Fern. Both plants 

 were new, and arrived at Kew still united 

 as when in growth, though the Fern 

 proved to be dead upon arrival. They 

 were undisturbed, however, during their 

 first year at Kew, the Orchid making 

 its first growth by the part absorption 

 of its late companion of Madagascar, 

 no other material being supplied to the 

 roots. 



The pseudo-bulbs of the Orchid are 

 ovate and 4 to 6 inches long; dark green 

 when young, becoming almost black 

 with age. The leaves are six to ten in 

 number, dark glossy green, 2 to nearly 

 3 feet long, tapering to a point and 

 deeply channelled down the centre. 

 The flower-stalk is erect with usually 

 fifteen to twenty buds and flowers, of 

 which not more than four to six are open 

 at the same time; the individual flowers 

 are about 3 inches across, the sepals and 

 petals being light green heavily blotched 

 and dotted with darker olive-green, the 

 front lobe of the lip is of a rich rose-red 

 colour, while the bracts at the base of the 

 first few flowers are light green, boat- 

 shaped, and about 2 inches long. 



As will be seen in the coloured plate, 

 this new Cymbidium differs from all 



other species in the colour and shape of 

 the lip ; these points of difference make 

 it of special interest to all orchid-lovers. 

 It is as yet rare, though other impor- 

 tations are probable, its distinct form 

 giving it value for hybridizing. It is 

 a strong-growing and free - flowering 

 plant, which should be grown with the 

 East Indian orchids, the growths being 

 ripened in an intermediate house when 

 mature. w. HACKETT. 



Kew. 



Lilyworts. — No tribes of flowers have had so great, 

 so varied, or so healthy an influence on man as this 

 great group of Lilyworts, depending not so much on 

 the whiteness of some of their blossoms or the radi- 

 ance of others, as on the strength and delicacy of the 

 substance of their petals, enabling them to take forms 

 of faultless elastic curvature, either in cups, as the 

 Crocus, or expanding bells as the true Lily, or Heath- 

 like bells as the Hyacinth, or bright and perfect stars 

 like the Star of Bethlehem, or where they are affected 

 by the strange reflex of the serpent nature, which 

 forms the labiate group of all flowers, closing into 

 forms of exquisitely fantastic symmetry in the Gladio- 

 lus. Put by their side their Nereid sisters, the Water 

 Lilies, and you have in them the origin of the loveliest 

 forms of ornamental design, and the most powerful 

 floral myths yet recognised among human spirits, 

 born by the streams of Ganges, Nile, Arno, and Avon. 

 For, consider a little what each of those five tribes 

 has been to the spirit of man. First, in their noble- 

 ness, the Lilies gave the Lily of the Annunciation ; 

 the Asphodels, the flower of the Elysian fields ; the 

 Irids, the fleur-de-lys of chivalry ; and the Amaryllids, 

 Christ's Lily of the field ; while the Rush, trodden 

 always under foot, became the emblem of humility. 

 Then take each of the tribes, and consider the extent 

 of their lower influence. Perdita's " The Crown Im- 

 perial, Lilies of all kinds," are the first tribe, which, 

 giving the type of perfect purity in the Madonna's 

 Lily, have, by their lovely form, influenced the en- 

 tire decorative design of Italian sacred art ; while 

 ornaments of war were continually enriched by the 

 curves of the triple petal of the Florentine " giglio " 

 and French fleur-de-lys ; so that it is impossible 

 to count their influence for good in the Middle 

 Ages, partly as a symbol of womanly character, and 

 partly of the utmost brightness and refinement of 

 chivalry in the city, which was the flower of cities. — 

 J. Ruskin. 



* With coloured plate from a drawing by H. G. Moon at Kew. 



