NOTES. 



DiCH.KAS FROM COSTA RiCA. — Living 

 plants of several interesting Costa Rican 

 Orchids, which had been collected in the 

 neighbourhood of Cachi, were sent to Kew 

 by Mr. C. H. Lankester in October, 191 3. 

 Among them are two very imperfectly known 

 species of Dicha?a, which according to the 

 last issue of the Knu Biillclin (1914, No. 8) 

 prove to be D. histrio and D. brachypoda. 

 Historical notes and a revised synonymy of 

 lioth species are included. 



«^ % U 



CorHLIODA VULCANICA. — This pretty 

 little species with rose-carmine flowers was 

 originally discovered by Mr. Spruce, a 

 well-known botanist and traveller, on the 

 volcanic mountain of Tunguragua, at an 

 elevation of 10,000 feet growing amongst the 

 erupted slag from the crater, a circumstance 

 which suggested the specific name. Some 

 twenty or more years ago Mr. Spruce was 

 erroneously described in an Orchid Manual 

 as a German botanist, a mistake immediately 

 corrected by the great Sir Joseph Hooker, 

 who wrote : — " I do not think poor Mr. Spruce 

 will like being called a German! He was a 

 Yorkshire schoolmaster." 



?<l %^ 



Cattleya Portia. — When making a 

 primary cross it is often possible to predict 

 with some degree of accuracy the nature of 

 the result, although even when the plant 

 reaches the flowering stage several years must 

 elapse before the finest results can be 



procured. In some cases these extra fine 

 results are never achieved, mainly because 

 other hybrids of greater promise appear on 

 the scene and attract the cultivator's skill. 

 Cattleya Portia (Bowringiana x labiata) was 

 formerly a favourite primary hybrid, but has 

 been too much placed on one side to make 

 room for so-called better hybrids. It is 

 doubtful whether finer results than have lately 

 been seen at Messrs. Charlesworth's have 

 been procured ; one strong ])lant carries a 

 spike of no less than 16 flowers, while another 

 has three spikes with a total of 29 flowers. 



OnoNTONiA Magali Sander var. 

 XAN'I'HOTES. — In the summer of 19 13 Messrs. 

 .Sander and Sons exhibited an interesting 

 hybrid between Miltonia Warscewiczii and 

 Odontoglossum ardentissinuim under the 

 name Odontonia Magali Sander, and now we 

 have the pleasure of recording the albino 

 variety, a spike of which has been received 

 from Mr. O. O. Wrigle\'s collection, Bridge 

 Hall, Bury. In the making of this hybrid M. 

 War.scewiczii can only be used as a mother 

 plant, and as Mr. Wrigley possesses a plant 

 of the very rare xanthina variety he decided 

 to fertilise it with the pollen of a good form 

 of O. ardentissimum xanthotes, in the hope, 

 which has now been fulfilled, that the two 

 xanthotic parents would yield progenj- of 

 similar kind. The Odontoglossum pollen was 

 obtained from Messrs. Charlesworth, to whom 

 the seed was sent when ripe and duly raised 

 in their establishment at Haywards Heath. 

 The seedlings, as soon as they were sufflcientl\- 



VOL. V. 



7 



