98 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[Febi'Liarv, igl6. 



Ly^aste Skinneri abnormal. — From 

 Mr. James Watson, Stanccastlc, Irvine, we 

 have received an interesting spike of Lycaste 

 Sl<inneri bearing" two large and perfect 

 flowers. The spike, slightly thicker than 

 usually seen, rises to about the normal height, 

 but from the axil of the uppermost bract, just 

 lieneath the ovar}', a second and much shorter 

 spike IS produced, at the apex of which a 

 perfect flower is carried. Mr. Watson 

 remarks that he has been going amongst 

 Orchid collections for twenty-five years and 

 has grown them himself for twenty years, 

 liut has never previously seen such an 

 occurrence. L'ncommon as these cases 

 undoubtedly are, they fall under the technical 

 heading of lateral floral prolification of the 

 inflorescence. Prolification consists of the 

 formation of supernumerary buds, either leaf}' 

 or floral ; in the above instance a flower has 

 been produced, although examples are some- 

 times seen in which the axillary buds on the 

 flower stem develop into leaves. 



'A^ i$ 



Strange to relate, a few days after 

 recei\'ing the above note and specimen from 

 Mr. Watson, a precisely similar example 

 arrived from Mr. F. Menteith Ogilvie, The 

 Shrubbery, Oxford, with the following note : 

 - -" I am forwarding a twin-flowered sca]3e of 

 a rather nice variet}' of Lycaste Skinneri, as 

 1 ha\e heard that twin flowers are of rare 

 occurrence in this genus ; but I am not sure 

 whether this statement is correct. I believe 

 that twin flowers are b)' no means uncommon. 

 1 believe we have had twins in L. aromatica, 

 L. gigcUitea, L. Skinneri and others, and we 

 do not grow our Lycastes superlatively well, 

 like Mr. Wrigley or Mr. Godman. If it is a 

 question of cultivation these gentlemen ought 

 to have dozens of tw in flowers every year." 



U U U 



Dendrobium FalcoNERL — With reference 

 to the interesting note (p. 93) on this species, 

 1 well remember an amateur's collection in 

 Edinburgh where considerable success was 

 achieved. The plants were placed in the 

 Odontoglossum house during the winter time, 



after which they were removed to a warm 

 Cattleya house, tliei-e was thus no gradual 

 increase of the temperature day by day, as 

 usually advised, but a sudden jump of 10 — 20 

 degrees. This treatment produced some 

 remarkable results, many of the plants bearing 

 upwards of 100 large flowers. The late Wm. 

 Boxall, well-known as a collector of wide 

 cx])erience, more than once told me how cold 

 the nights were in the district where he found 

 this species growing in Assam, ) et in daytime 

 the brilliant sun would create a high tempera- 

 ture, even the rocks upon which some of the 

 plants grew became quite hot. I feel sure 

 that with many Dendrobiums of this section, 

 which are always difficult to grow, better 

 results would be obtained if the period 

 between flowering and the commencement of 

 the new growth were not so prolonged. These 

 thin-bulbed plants appear to be much 

 weakened after flowering and cannot with- 

 stand the long period of waiting until new 

 roots are formed, which is just what happens 

 when they are brought into flower under the 

 ordinary Dendrobium treatment. In my 

 opinion D. Falconeri must be brought rapidly 

 into flower and the new growth started into 

 activity with as little delay as possible. — 

 Trade Grower. 



ODONTIODA AMETHYST. 



(Oda. Bradsh awiae X Odm. Halliocrispum.) 



Halln is a peculiar power in the coloration 

 of its resulting hybrids. The brownish-red of 

 this tiny plant is extraordinarily deep and rich 

 in tone, giving the clear evidence of the depth 

 and power of the blackish-brown of the 

 Odontoglossum ancestor. 



Picture a small Oda. Bradshawiae with 

 solid segments of brownish deep red, with 

 creamy light yellowish apical triangular areas 

 which are edged with deep lilac, add the poor 

 Bradshawise form of lip and you see 

 Odontioda Amethyst. 



When a large plant this will be a very 

 striking thing, eind a good addition to Messrs. 

 Armstrong and Brown's already long list. — 

 dc B. C raw shay, Rose field, Sevcnuaks. 



