Api-il-l\ray, 1916.] 



1111': ORC'Illl) WORLD. 



'47 



( ymbidium Alexanderi Excelsior. 



Cymbidiuaf Alexanderi. — This has 

 always been recognised as a very licautiful 

 hybrid, and the variety Excelsior, of which 

 we given an illustration, received an Award 

 of Merit when exhibited by the raisers, 

 Messrs. J. and A. McBean, at the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, March 7th, 19 iL). It 

 has since been purchased b\' Mr. Geo. 

 Hamilton-Smith and added to his noted 

 collection at Leigh Woods, Bristol, where 

 Cymbidiums are a special feature. The 

 parents of Alexanderi are insigne and 

 eburneo-Lowianum, hence evidence of all 

 three species is to be seen among the 

 resulting seedlings. In Alexanderi Excelsior, 

 the characters of the parental species are so 

 combined that a charming rose-crimson 

 flower results, the lip being marked with 

 crimson-red. Experts consider it one of the 

 finest Cymbidiums yet produced. Another 

 remarkable example is C. Alexanderi 

 Hamilton-Smith's variety, which obtained a 

 First-class Certificate, February 24th, 1914. 

 The large flower is ivory-white, thus partaking 

 much of the eburneum parent, while the 

 labellum is boldly marked with crimson. 

 These two striking results, both derived from 



the same seed-pod, show how considerably 

 the hybridist has improved the genus and how 

 much more may be witnessed as further 

 generations arc produced. 



L.elio-Cattleya luminosa aurea. — 

 Two excellent varieties of this interesting 

 h)brid have been received from Mr. W. W. 

 h^(dd, who has charge of the well-known 

 West Point collection, Whalley Range, 

 Manchester. In the typical forms of L.-C. 

 luminosa (tenebrosa x aurea) the yellow 

 segments are more or less suffused with a 

 purplish colour, derived from the tenebrosa 

 parent, but by using L. tenebrosa Walton 

 Grange van, an albino form in which this 

 l^urple pigment is absent in the sepals and 

 petals, a very beautiful hybrid is jiroduced. 

 The two examples sent by Mr. Field have 

 been named respectively Samuel Gratrix and 

 Mary Amelia Gratrix, both have rich canary- 

 yellow sepals and petals and a rose-purple 

 labellum, but the former variety possess an 

 additional crimson colour on the lip, winch 

 renders it slightly darker. Both plants came 

 from the same seed-pod, and were raised by 



