234 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[September, 1916. 



ORCHIDS* 



A LL the care bestowed upon the packing 

 / \ of recently collected plants is rendered 

 ^ ^ useless if the cases containing them 

 are stored in an unsuitable place in the steam- 

 ship, as, for example, near the boilers, or on 

 deck, where they would be subject to extreme 

 atmospheric fluctuations, hence ample precau- 

 tions are needed if the traveller desires to 

 return home with his collection in a satis- 

 factory condition. Orchids having fairly 

 tough bulbs travel better than those consisting 

 of fleshy leaves, such as Phakenopses, which 

 are best treated by semi-establishing them on 

 small blocks of wood before being packed. 

 These prepared plants, on arriving at their 

 destination, are thus supplied with a root 

 system capable of immediate action directly 

 moisture is supplied, consequently they 

 recover their former vitality much quicker 

 than plants which have first to make new 

 roots. In Java this matter has received 

 needful attention, and special shelters 

 have been erected for the preparation of 

 Phalasnopses, large quantities of which are 

 periodically despatched to England, Japan 

 and the United States. 



Considerable attention is being directed to 

 the raising of seedling Orchids from selected 

 parents, and the favourable results obtained 

 show that there is but little necessity to 

 continue the importing of the majority of 

 species, at least in anything like the immense 

 quantities that have been collected in years 

 gone by. Something more than a general 

 interest is now being taken, and growers are 

 specialising in one or more genera, with the 

 satisfactory result that progress takes place in 

 the improvement of the flower. All this leads 

 to a much closer examination of the individual 

 flower, its construction, and possibilities of 

 alteration. 



In the construction of an Orchid flower two 

 whorls, each comprising three segments, stand 

 out prominently. The outer whorl consists of 

 three sepals, plainly visible in Odontoglossums 



*Brief report of lantern slide lecture g^iven by Mr. Giirney 

 Wilson at the Royal Horticultural Society, Aug^ust 15th, 

 1916. Chairman: Sir Jeremiah Colman, Bart., V.M.H. 



and Cattleyas, but rather less so in the genus 

 Cypripedium, in which the two lateral sepals 

 are joined together, forming one apparent 

 sepal, situated just behind the labellum. In 

 Cypripedium species the dorsal sepal is more 

 fully developed than the lower or ventral 

 sepal, and on account of this initial advantage 

 Cypripedium breeders have mainly directed 

 their attention to the further improvement of 

 this one segment, until, as experience proves, 

 the limits of development appear to have been 

 almost reached. Instances in which an 

 advance is noticeable are now so few that 

 many a former enthusiast considers the task 

 hopeless and unprofitable. On this account it 

 seems advisable to commence work with the 

 improvement of the hitherto neglected lower 

 sepal, and the wide field for work which is 

 thereby opened up is one that should yield 

 many encouraging results. In a few 

 hybrids some favourable results have already 

 appeared, but these may be described as 

 accidental, for, judging by the parents used, 

 the raisers were really considering the 

 meritorious points of the dorsal sepal. 

 Mention may here be made of Cypripedium 

 Lord Wolmer, Westonbirt variety, in which 

 the lower sepal is developed to dimensions 

 almost equalling those of the dorsal sepal. 



The inner whorl is made up of two definite 

 petals and a third segment, called the lip or 

 labellum, which is really a modified petal. In 

 some varieties of Odontoglossums, as, for 

 example, O. crispum Lady Jane, the petals 

 bear similar marks to those on the hp, showing 

 the close relationship existing between them. 

 Cattleya intermedia Aquinii is a constant 

 variety in which the petals bear purple marks 

 like the one on the apex of the lip. A third 

 example may be seen in Dendrobium nobile 

 Cooksonii, the dark blotch of the hp being 

 repeated on the base of the petals. In two 

 flowers of Cattleya Trianje one had the 

 normally developed labellum, while the 

 other had the corresponding segment flatly 

 displayed, in similar style to the lateral petals, 

 thus revealing an ancestral condition, or an 

 early stage in the history of the plant's 

 evolution. On rare occasions the flower 

 becomes regular by the two lateral petals 



