Janu;iry, KJ15.J 



rill'; ORCHID world. 



ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM 

 LILACINUM. 



To the present-day grower this name 

 only imphes a hlac-rose eoloured 

 cnspiim, but there is a variety, and a 

 classic one too, named and certified long ago, 

 existing in a few collections where portions 

 of the plant are grown, but tliey are unknown 

 lo their owners ! 1 have a plant, and consider 

 it one of the best of theroseum punctatissimuiri 

 class, and its history will be of interest. 



One day in 1885, at Messrs. Protheroe and 

 Morns', I well remember the late Mr. H. M. 

 Pollett, of Fernside, Bickley, bringing me a 

 little box containing two blooms of crispum, 

 one was lilacmum and the other roseum 

 punctatissimum ; both were rosy varieties, but 

 lilacinum far the better. He had recently 

 purchased tliem in flower, giving 10 gns. 

 for the former and 5 gns. for tlie latter, and 

 asked my opinion upon the names he 

 proposed for them. He exhibited both plants 

 at the Royal Horticultural Society, May 26th, 

 1885, each being awarded a First-class 

 Certificate. 



In his sale, April 7th, i8gi, lilacinum 

 appears as Lot 186, six bulbs, and was 

 purchased by M. Lucien Linden for 80 gns. 

 In the sale announcements in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, Feb. 27th, 1892, appears under the 

 Protheroe and Morris' sale of March 4th : 

 " Also a beautiful Odontoglossum crispum 

 lilacinum, now in full flower with fine bulbs." 

 (I have no doubt this should have been five 

 bulbs.) I was not present at the sale and 

 never heard until 19 14 where the plant went. 



On June 27th, 1899, Sir Trevor Lawrence 

 was granted an Award of Merit, and on 

 March 26th, 190 1, a First-class Certificate 

 for Odontoglossum crispum purpurascens, a 

 beautiful variety with lilac-rose flowers, 

 copiously spotted with small spots of rich 

 crimson-brown hue. Parts of this plant he 

 afterwards disposed of, the highest price, I 

 believe, being 1 50 gns. (Protheroe and Morris, 

 Dec. 22nd, 1905), and they have been 

 subsequently resold in various sales. These 

 plants of purpurascens that are extant now 

 are all parts of lilacinum. 



Now for the discovery of the " alias." 

 On December 22nd, 1905, 1 exchanged a 

 plant with .Sir Trevor for ;inolher variety and 

 brought it home myself that day. Mr. W. II. 

 White, who was with Sir Trevor and me in. 

 the Odontoglossum house, packed u|) the 

 l)lant. The plant did not like the change to 

 Rosefield, and steadily went backwards, but 

 with careful nursing it revived, and on Feb. 

 2()th, 1 9 14, it bloomed. There was a strange 

 sort of a " memory of long ago " in the flower 

 which I could not recall, so I looked over all 

 my " ancient history " pictures and recognised 

 it at once in the original painting of 

 lilacinum given me on Sept. gth, 1899, by the 

 late Mr. PoUett. 



I set to work to trace the history of 

 purpurascens, which was not difficult, as Mr. 

 \V. H. White wrote to me that " Sir Trevor 

 bought the plant at Messrs. Protheroe and 

 Morris, March 4th, 1892, as O. crispum 

 lilacinum ; when it first flowered here 

 (Burford) it was so poor that we almost 

 decided to burn it. The plant's life was 

 spared, and it grew into a fine one, and m 

 1899 so fine was it that Sir Trevor re-named 

 it purpurascens." 



It was easy to refer to the travels of 

 lilacinum, and I soon found the above quoted 

 Sale Announcement, and cleared up the facts. 

 Hence all parts of purpurascens are, 

 properly speaking, lilacinum by priority. 

 This is a case of two First-class Certificates 

 being given to one variety under two names ; 

 the first time the plant appeared, under the 

 name lilacinum, being before the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society commenced the painting of 

 certificated plants, hence no record was 

 available in 1899 and 1901 when the act was 

 unwittingly committed, no one recognising 

 the plant again, as it had so immensely 

 improved. 



Finally, it is to be hoped that growers will 

 do their utmost to preserve the old varieties 

 and not let them go out of cultivation, as 

 some day a historic collection of Odonto- 

 glossums may be a means of perpetuating 

 many tilings of extremely great interest. 

 dc D. Crawshay, Rosefield, Nov. igth, igi4. 



VOL, V. 



