152 



REPORT ON THE 



not represented. Specimens of two genera were shown, viz., 

 Ponthieva and Vanilla ; fruits, leaves and flowers of the latter were 

 exhibited by Mr. Cookson among the fruiting Orchids. The pods 

 were large, and of a fine dark brown or chocolate colour and 

 deliciously scented. A plant of Ponthieva maeulata (Lindley) was 

 sent from Kew Gardens, where it has been cultivated for some 

 3 r ears. This is the showiest of the genus, and is remarkable for 

 being probably the hairiest plant of the order. 



Ophryde;e 



Is another unpopular section, for which also the season was 

 rather too early. Yowv ijaiera, however, were represented. Lady 

 Howard de Walden, of Mote Park, Maidstone, exhibited several 

 species of Serapias from Italy, including &, linr/ua (Lindley) and 

 eordigera (Lindley), and a plant of 8. pa rri flora (Pari.) was sent 

 from Kew. The above-mentioned lady showed also Ophrys Ber- 

 tolonii, one of the most beautiful and curious of the Insect 

 Orchids. These plants had flowered for two years in succession, 

 but, perhaps owing to the colder and duller climate of England, 

 the flowers of the Serapias were rather pale in colour. From 

 Mr. Ware, of Tottenham, came Orchis papiUonacM (Lindley), a 

 beautiful and interesting South European plant, which forms a 

 connecting link between the penera Orchis and Serapias, having 

 indeed been successfully hybridized with the latter genus. 



Two or three plants of the largest flowered of all Ophrydea?, 

 Disa (tranrfi flora (Lindley), were exhibited, but not in flower. 



Cypripede.e. 



\ There are few genera more popular than Cypripedium and 

 Selenipedium, almost all the species known having been in 

 cultivation at one time or another, and most at the present day. 



The cypripediums proper are most naturally divided into 

 those of temperate and those of tropical regions. The former 

 are easily recognized by their leafy stems, the latter having a 

 rosette of leaves from which arises a naked scape bearing usually 

 a single flower. 



Of the temperate species, Messrs. Paul and Son showed 

 C. pubescem (Lindley), a North American species resembling, 

 but rather inferior in colouring to, our British species C, calceolus 

 (Lindley), which was shown by Mr. Ware, together witli C. 

 parviftorus (Lindley), also a North American plant'. 



