52 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[December, 1913. 



NOMENCLATURE OF ALBINOS. 



THE word albino as applied to Orchids 

 seems to be accepted as a description 

 of the nearest approach to white m 

 each particular class, and the varietal name 

 alba IS attached to such Orchids irrespective 

 of their bemg white. I wish to draw a 

 distinction between an "alba" and an 

 " albino," and, at the same time, between 

 " albinism " and albinoism," albinism being 

 the state or condition of an alba, and 

 albinoism the state or condition of an albino. 



Albinos originally referred to the white 

 negros met with on the coast of Africa. They 

 are described as having a preternaturally 

 white skin, white hair, and a peculiar redness 

 of the ins and pupil of the eye. This descrip- 

 tion of albinos appears to be generally 

 accepted. White rabbits, white mice, etc., 

 having white hair, but pink eyes, are termed 

 albinos. Therefore, I see no great objection 

 to the term albino being applied to an Orchid 

 flower having white sepals and petals and a 

 coloured labellum, but I am distinctly opposed 

 to it being described as an alba. 



Whether a flower having white sepals and 

 petals and a coloured labellum is entitled to 

 the description alba is perhaps a question of 

 expediency rather than of fact. Logically, 1 

 think it is an albino because of yellow in the 

 labellum, that is to say, it is not entirely white. 

 Coelogyne cristata alba and Cattleya inter- 

 media alba are true albas, without yellow. 

 With our advancing knowledge, and albinos 

 of species least expected coming forward m 

 Nature, it is not impossible that one day we 

 may get true albas to displace those having 

 yellow labellums, and at present bearing this 

 description. 



In speaking of albas it is the white portions 

 we are concerned with, and we ignore the 

 yellow, and although we go on calling them 

 albas because of established records and 

 custom, still, they are logically only albinos. 



Those flowers which are blush-white may 

 have their imperfections pointed out by 

 terming them albescens, but to my mind this 

 class of flower, through just failing to be 

 good, fails entirely, and reminds me of the 



Indian gentleman seeking employment who 

 advertised in an Indian newspaper that his 

 qualifications were " Failed, B.Sc, Lond." 



For all practical purposes I should like to 

 see the method suggested in the article on 

 page 30 adopted, as exampled by Cattleya 

 Enid. If a true Enid alba should ever be 

 produceH it must carry a varietal name. 



Richd. G. Thwaiies. 



PELORISM AND ALBINISM. 



MANY instances of regular and irre- 

 gular peloria in Orchids have from 

 time to time been recorded, and 

 some notes have previously appeared in these 

 pages (Vol. II., p. 75). The present example, 

 however, differs from those usually seen, 

 inasmuch that albinism is correlatively 

 concerned. 



Messrs. Hassall and Co., Southgate, have in 

 their possession an albida form of Cattleya 

 labiata, or, in other words, a variety which 

 produces, when in a normal state, flowers 

 having white sepals and petals and a coloured 

 labellum. This autumn the plant has flowered 

 again, although the bloom on this occasion 

 has not only been formed in regular peloriate 

 style, but it has also been produced as a true 

 albino, none of the segments showing" any 

 trace of colour. 



Now regular peloria implies a condition of 

 the flower in which the labellum assumes the 

 form of the two lateral petals. The flower 

 reverts to the regular condition which 

 ancestral Orchids probably possessed. The 

 flower fails to present its most recently 

 acquired development. Regular peloria, 

 therefore, is an arrest of development. 



The apical bloom of a many-flowered 

 Odontoglossum or Cattleya spike is frequently 

 produced in a peloriate state — the labellum 

 assumes the form of the petals. There has 

 been insufficient nutritive material to complete 

 these apical buds, and their diverse condition 

 to others on the same spike is due to arrest 

 of development. 



