THE ORCHIJ) WORLD. 



[May, 1915. 



Odontoglossum Hunnewellianum 

 CITRINUM. — Although we are accustomed to 

 speak of albino varieties as though there 

 existed but one kind, and that a pure white 

 flower, there are in fact two distinct sections 

 into which the various forms may be placed. 

 The first contains the true albinos, those 

 flowers which are pure white on account of 

 losing their characteristic rose-purple colour 

 — be this in spots and blotches, or suffused 

 over the whole flower — and of which 

 examples are seen m albino varieties of 

 Odontogiossum crispum and Cattleya labiata. 

 The second section contains the yellow- 

 grounded flowers, winch are also termed 

 albinos when they lose their additional 

 rose-purple pigment. Examples are to be seen 

 in Odontogiossum tnumphans aureum and 

 Cypnpeduim insigne .Sanderae. Thus the 

 removal of the purple colour leaves us with 

 pure white flowers in one case, and with 

 )ellow flowers m the other. The latest 

 addition to the yellow-grounded section is 

 Odontogiossum Hunnewellianum citrinum, 

 which has been flowered by Mr. Fred. J. 

 Hanbury, of Brockhurst, East Grinstead. In 

 this interesting variety the sepals and petals 

 are entirely devoid of spotting, being of clear 

 citron-yellow colour, while the whitish 

 labellum has light brown spotting of a faint 

 nature. It is also of interest to note that 

 while the labellum is invariably the first 

 segment to show spotting, it is the last to lose 

 it. O. Hunnewellianum appears to have 

 first flowered m England in the year i88g, 

 while the well-known natural hybrid O. 

 Adrians (crispum x Hunnewellianum) was 

 first exhibited by M. Linden in 1897, since 

 when it has turned up in large quantities, and 

 has been mated with crispum, the result, 

 known as Fascinator, resembling closely 

 many of the so-called spotted crispums. 



f<M M p 



Cymbidium insigne album. — Who ever 

 thought of an albino variety of C. insigne? 

 yet such indeed has appeared amongst a 

 number of plants cultivated by Mr. Wm. 

 Bolton, of Warrington. The whole flower is 



ivory-white, the typical rose-purple markings 

 on the labellum having entirely disappeared, 

 their place being taken by some light 

 greenish-yellow lines on the inner part of the 

 side lobes and a few spots of the same colour 

 on the median part ; even these are barely 

 \ isible except by transmitted light. The crest 

 :s light yellow. At present the plant is small 

 and needs cultivation to bring forth its full 

 merits, but the first spike of flowers suggests 

 what interesting and beautiful results may be 

 obtained if it is used in conjunction with C. 

 eburneum. The plant has passed into the 

 collection of Mr. Philip Smith, Ashton-on- 

 Mersey, and obtained an Award of Merit at 

 the meeting of the Manchester Orchid 

 Society, April ist, 191 5. 



ODONTOGLOSSUM SYRINX. 



Kege'jani crispum 



I I (Raymond Crawsliay) 



walfoniense crispum 



I I (Luciani) 



\ 



Syrinx 



It is very interesting to see how the laws 

 of Nature work regarding the preservation 

 of species from annihilation by hybrids. 

 Considering the heavy blotched parentage of 

 this hybrid, it would be almost reasonable to 

 expect the fixing of the markings, as I 

 selected a very deeply blotched waltoniense 

 for the purpose. 



The first plant to bloom has a light creamy- 

 white ground colour, almost a " self," over all 

 the segments, the sepals having three or four 

 brown spots, the petals one only in each of 

 the two flowers, the lip a central blotch and 

 some spots at the sides ; the column is brown 

 headed, the wings tinted ; the anther-cap has 

 a brown shade. The lip recurves as does that 

 of crispum Luciani, and is " varnished " all 

 over, as is the case m Kegeljani. 



It IS interesting to record a case of such 

 marked reversion to crispum pure and simple, 

 although, of course, heavily blotched forms 

 will result from the cross. 



r/f' B. Crawshay, Roseficld, March 28th, igi S- 



