May, 1915.] 



THE ORCTIIl) WORLD. 



17' 



BULl!OI'HYr-LUM DICHROMUM. This inter- 

 esting' species has recently been m flower in 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, 

 Dubhn. It carried three spikes, each about 

 10-12 inches in length, and bearing some 20 

 or more flowers, bright yellow, the petals 

 striped with red, the lip claret-red. It was 

 imported from Annam by Messrs. Sander and 

 Sons, through their collector Micholitz, and 

 first flowered at Glasnevin, February, 1907. 

 It is allied to B. fuscopurpureum. 



^ 



Odontoglossum Oerstedil— Concerning 

 this pretty little species with its white flowers, 

 Messrs. Veitch state it was introduced 

 by them through their collector Endres 

 in 1872, and flowered for the first time 

 in England in their Chelsea nursery in 

 the spring of the following year. It is 

 a native of the highest slopes and 

 crests, at 7,000-9,000 feet elevation, of 

 Irasu and Turialba, in Costa Rica, 

 where it was discovered in 1848 by 

 Warscewicz, a sketch of an Odonto- 

 glossum made by him being believed 

 by Reichenbach to be referable to this 

 plant. It was afterwards found by Dr. 

 Oersted, whose name it perpetuates. 

 Of late years the plant has been rarely 

 seen in cultivation, but an excellent specimen 

 carrying no less than 24 flowers has been 

 exhibited recently by Mr. Harry Dixon, of 

 Spencer Park Nursery, Wandsworth Common. 



m m 1^ 



The R.H.S. Exhibitions. — The impression 

 left upon me, after visiting the shows during 

 the last few months, is one of dissatisfaction, 

 which arises from seeing the diminutive 

 character of the usual run of Orchid plants 

 shown. Is the art of prolonged cultivation 

 failing, or is the idea of variety overwhelming 

 in its demands, so that numbers and assort- 

 ment are the mam thoughts of exhibitors. If 

 this be the case, it is to be regretted. One 

 thinks of the old shows on record, where size 

 of individual plant and large quantity of 

 bloom on it was a frequent sight, but latterly 



a Deiidrobe with lialf-a-do/cn or so blooms 

 seems to be the finality which merits a front 

 ]jlace on the stall. The immense number of 

 seedlings raised accounts, of course, for much 

 of the small size of the plants ; and the 

 feverish anxiety to produce a new form or 

 colour is all very well and commendable, but 

 one would like to see more often plants of a 

 more mature character and fuller bloomed. 

 Take, for instance, the Cypripedium, how 

 often is a plant with a dozen flowers on it to 

 be seen at the shows ? Or, again, a Cattleya 

 with, say, 20-25 flowers? The number 

 nowadays seems normally about 4-5. Where 

 are the plants of old times, which were a 

 garden unto themselves? If now extinct 



Odontoglossum Oersledii. 



surely present day cultivation can produce 

 larger specimens more commonly. Is it not 

 more satisfying to view a well matured plant 

 with numerous blooms than to look at many 

 little plants with, perhaps, but a bloom 

 apiece. Cannot some of our growers gladden 

 our e)'es with larger specimens at the shows ? 

 —Alf. J. Paine, Wansiead. 



m # 



Cyrtopodiujis. — Two handsome species 

 of this genus have just produced fine 

 inflorescences with Messrs. Charlesworth and 

 Co. The first is C. Andersonii, with sepals 

 and petals yellow, faintly tinged with green, 

 the lip rich yellow ; while the second is C. 

 punctatum, with yellow flowers spotted with 

 red. Both species grow to a height of 3-4 feet. 



