232 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[September, igi6. 



Miltonia spectabilis. 



MiLTONIA SPECTABILIS. — This is the 

 species upon which the genus Miltonia was 

 founded by Lindley in 1837, the name being 

 in honour of Viscount Milton, " one of the 

 oldest and most zealous friends of natural 

 science in this country." A plant was 

 originally sent to the Birmingham Botanical 

 and Horticultural .Society from Brazil, in 1835, 

 by a Mr. Fry, who named it Macrochilus 

 Fryanus, but as this name was published one 

 month later tlian Lindley's Miltonia specta- 

 bilis it cannot be acknowledged. Messrs. 

 Loddiges, of Hackney, first flowered it under 

 cultivation in 1837. Several distinct varieties 

 are known, that described as Moreliana being 

 considered the finest ; it was sent to M. Morel, 

 of St. Mande, near Paris, in 1846, and was 

 shortly afterwards cultivated by Messrs. 

 Knight and Perry, at Chelsea. In the variety 

 bicolor the flowers are white with a large 

 plum-purple blotch at the base of the lip. 

 The variety lineata is distinguished by the 

 lip having seven to nine purple lines radiating 



from a blotch of the same colour at the base 

 to the margin. In radians the flowers are 

 white with six club-shaped purple rays on the 

 disc of the lip. Another, described as rosea, 

 has light rose flowers with purple longi- 

 tudinal lines on the lip. In virgmalis the 

 white flowers have a broad wedge-shaped 

 purple blotch at the base of the lip. Odon- 

 tonia Lucilia (Miltonia spectabilis x Odonto- 

 glossum cirrhosum) is an interesting hybrid, 

 figured and described in the ORCHID WORLD, 

 Vol. IV., p. 124. 



^ ^ 



Cattleya Eldorado Wallisi. — One of 

 the finest specimens of this albino variety was 

 at one time to be seen in Mr. E. Coming's 

 collection at Kenwood, U.S.A. It formed an 

 immense mass on an old tree stump, and 

 measured six or seven feet in circumference. 

 In the season of 1882 it carried no less than 

 170 flowers, all open at the same time, and 

 making a most enchanting picture. 



m u u 



Orchid Cultivation in 1840. — As an 

 example of the methods of Orchid cultivation 

 employed about the year 1840, the following 

 statement by Mr. Appleby, then gardener to 

 Mr. Brocklehurst, may be of interest: — "I 

 have lately used the following compost with 

 great success for Orchidaceous plants. I 

 procure a quantity of sphagnum, or common 

 bog moss, I have it dried, and then chopped 

 small ; to this I add half-rotten willow or 

 poplar wood. I prefer these woods on 

 account of their great lightness, and the 

 absence of resin ; the wood is chopped into 

 small pieces, the largest not bigger than 

 pigeons' eggs. To these I add the under 

 stratum of sphagnum, which has become 

 almost peat, likewise chopped fine. These 

 make altogether a light open compost, which 

 appears admirably to suit the plants, as they 

 root in it freely, and thrive to my satisfaction. 

 I use it chiefly for the species that grow upon 

 trees." Mr. Brocklehurst's name is per- 

 petuated in HouUetia Brocklehurstiana, which 

 first flowered in his collection. 



