Nov. -Dec, 1916.] 



I UK ORCIlin WORLD. 



267 



Odontoglossum nevadense. 



OdONTOGLOSSUM NEVADENSE. — This rare 

 species was sent to M. Linden's establishment 

 at Brussels in 1868 by Gustav Wallis, who 

 had collected it, unknown to himself at the 

 time, with a quantity of Od. Wallisii which he 

 had discovered on the Sierra Nevada, near 

 Merida, in Venezuela. It is said that only 

 four plants were sent to Europe in the first 

 consignment, one of which was acquired by 

 Mr. Sam Mendel, of Manchester, in whose 

 collection it soon after flowered, being the 

 first occasion in England. The sepals and 

 petals are cinnamon-brown margined with 

 yellow, and sometimes with some longitudinal 

 stripes at their base ; the lip is white, striped 

 with chestnut-brown. It forms a parent of 

 three hybrids, these being 0dm. Una 

 (nevadense X crispum), Odm. Valkyrie (neva- 

 dense X Wilckeanum) and Oda. nevensis (C. 

 Noetzliana x O. nevadense). 



Odontoglossum eximillus. Orchid- 

 hurst VARIETY. — O. Harryanum, cnspum 

 and Pescatorei have produced many of our 

 finest hybrids, and notwithstanding the 

 successes so far achieved there is abundant 

 evidence to show that even better ones will 



appear as time goes on. When O. eximillus 

 was first described (ORCHID WORLD, Vol. 

 IV., p. 155) the plants were small, but even 

 then the flowers foretold the fine varieties 

 that would be seen in the future. The 

 raisers, Messrs. Armstrong and Brown, are 

 now reaping the benefit of the grand parents 

 they used, which in the case of eximillus were 

 eximium and lUustrissimum, hence the 

 greater part of the parentage is composed of 

 crispum and Pescatorei, the remainder being 

 Harryanum. One of the attractive features 

 of the Orchidhurst variety is the decisive 

 nature of the coloration ; the sepals are 

 almost covered with crimson-brown ; the 

 broad petals bear a nearly circular and solid 

 blotch of rich claret-purple, the apex and a 

 narrow border being white and having a 

 crystalline appearance. The formation of 

 the labellum is that of Pescatorei, with the 

 apex conspicuously pandurate, and being 

 white it stands out well from the other 

 segments ; on its middle portion is a large 

 crimson blotch, on each side of which is a 

 glistening area, just as though two dabs of 

 varnish had been applied, and making a very 

 distinctive feature. A finishing touch is 

 given by the rich crimson colour on the broad 

 column. On this occasion the plant has 

 produced a spike of nine flowers. 



