THE O RCHID WORLD. 



Vol. 6. No. 4. ^^^^^ January, 1916. 



NOTES. 



Successful Cultivation in S. 

 Australia. — I have just flowered a fine 

 specimen of Angrascum sesquipedale. It 

 carries 1 5 flowers, with one spike of 5, two of 

 4, and one of 2. This is one short of the 

 specimen illustrated in the ORCHID WORLD, 

 Vol. III., p. 195. Has this Angrascum been 

 recorded as carrying more than 5 flowers on 

 one spike? I have also two specimen plants 

 of Cattleya Lawrenceana, which this season 

 have carried 51 flowers between them, there 

 being nine spikes of 5, and one of 6. — E. 

 Baxter Cox, Adelaide, S. Australia. 



^ II II 



Back Bulbs. — Apart from a beneficial 

 influence on the plant, the removal of the back 

 bulbs is of value as a means of increasing the 

 stock of any special variety. Years ago, when 

 collections were chiefly composed of imported 

 plants, it was not an easy matter to excite 

 these old bulbs into activity, and various 

 means were adopted to secure success, among 

 them being the suspension of the bulbs above 

 the staging, or else placing them in small 

 pots partly filled with crocks. Only by half 

 starving the bulbs in this manner did they 

 strive to continue their existence by pushing 

 forth a growth from one of the basal buds. 

 But with Orchids raised from seed under 

 artificial conditions the basal buds are rarely 

 damaged and remain in a healthy state for a 

 considerable period, hence they can be 

 brought into renewed activity with compara- 

 tive ease. Experience shows that these bulbs 

 are best kept in a moist condition and placed 

 in small pots surrounded with crocks and 

 sphagnum moss, taking care that the moss is 

 not too tightly packed round the basal bud 



VOL. VL 



yet sufficiently close to maintain it in a moist 

 condition. By this means, Mr. Chas. J. 

 Phillips, of The Glebe, Sevenoaks, has 

 increased his stock of special varieties, and his 

 experience confirms the remark that the 

 severe treatment necessary in the case of 

 imported plants is not required with those 

 raised under glass. 



II «;S SI 



Eria CRISTATA. — We have received flowers 

 of this species from Mr. Walter R. Scott, 

 The Limes, South Moor, Stanley, Durham, 

 who states that his plants bloom very 

 profusely every year about the month 

 of November. Eria cristata was originally 

 described in the Kew Bulletin, 1892, 

 p. 139: — "A pretty little species, belonging 

 to the section Cylindrolobus, which has 

 been cultivated at Kew for several years. 

 It was originally sent from Moulmein by Mr. 

 C. Peche, in 1882. It is nearly allied to 

 marginata, which, however, has the lip, and 

 especially the side lobes, margined with red, 

 and a quite different crest. E. cristata has 

 the sepals and petals pure white and the lip 

 yellow, somewhat darker on the disc and 

 margins of the side lobes. The structure of 

 the system of crests is rather complex. On 

 the hairy disc between the side lobes are 

 three obscure keels, which at the apex of the 

 side lobes suddenly terminate in a pair of 

 truncate very fleshy crests, at this point 

 destitute of hairs ; in front of these is a pair 

 of deep cavities, one on either side, and 

 between them an elevated plate covered with 

 yellow hairs, thus forming a tuft or crest, in 

 allusion to which the name is given. The 

 column is white with some yellow markings 

 on the foot, and a yellow anther case." 



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