74 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[January, 1914. 



(crispum x Lambeauianum), a singularly 

 attractive flower with deep-rose ground 

 colour, spotted with purple-red, and with the 

 edges of the petals nicely serrated. As a 

 contrast to these hybrids several excellent 

 varieties of Od. crispum are also sent, one 

 named gloriosa being of extra size. Odontioda 

 Vuylstekeas, with rose-pink colour on the 

 outer portion of the segments and light red 

 markings on the inner parts, is rendered 

 valuable for future work by reason of its good 

 shape and texture. The Arddarroch collec- 

 tion has always been noted for excellent 

 forms of Odontoglossum species, and its 

 reputation has recently widened into the 

 hybrid section. No doubt the good species 

 have much to do with the fine results already 

 achieved in hybridisation. 



U U 



WiCKEN Fen. — In igii, the late Mr. 

 G. H. Verrall, the well-known entomologist, 

 bequeathed to the National Trust his property 

 in Wicken Sedge Fen and St. Edmund's Fen, 

 amounting to nearly 240 acres. These places 

 are about the last remaining portions of the 

 great undrained and uncultivated fens of the 

 Eastern counties. They lie about seven 

 miles south-east of Ely and about 35 miles 

 of Soham in Cambridgeshire. The Fen 

 cannot, however, be preserved in its natural 

 condition without a considerable annual 

 expenditure. The most crying need at the 

 moment is that of a permanent guardian or 

 watcher who should be able to do something 

 to check the indiscriminate " collecting " done 

 by unscrupulous persons, which has gone far 

 towards exterminating the rarer plants, etc. 

 The botanist will appreciate the value of 

 Wicken Fen when he realises that here are to 

 be found, among many other plants, the very 

 rare Liparis Loeselii, known as the Fen 

 Orchid, and the only representative of the 

 genus in England, and Epipactis palustris, 

 the Marsh Epipactis, a by no means common 

 species. The Council of the Trust is now 

 appealing to all those who are interested in 

 the preservation of wild life for the necessary 

 funds to maintain this unique property. 



HellebORINE VIRIDIFLORA. — In the work 

 being undertaken in connection with the 

 preparation of a Flora of South Lancashire, 

 considerable attention has been paid to the 

 Orchids, a dozen species of which occur on 

 the sandhills of the -South Lancashire coast. 

 Local botanists have hitherto known one 

 plant as Hellebonne latifolia, Druce, but the 

 December number of the ] oitrnal of Botany, 

 contains an exhaustive article by Mr. J. A. 

 Wheldon, F.L.S., and Mr. W. G. Travis, 

 pointing out the many differences between 

 this and Hellebonne viridiflora (Epipactis 

 viridifiora, Reichb.), and it has now been 

 proved that the latter is the correct name for 

 the species in question. The authors of the 

 article had long thought that the plant known 

 locally as H. latifolia differed considerably m 

 appearance from the inland plant m some not 

 readily definable way, but until last summer 

 had never compared fresh examples of the 

 true form with the dune plant, or made a 

 critical examination of the latter. " This 

 comparison," state Messrs. Wheldon and 

 Travis, " of flowering specimens was rendered 

 a matter of some difficulty by the fact that, 

 when the coast plant was in flower, the inland 

 plant was only in bud, and by the time the 

 flowers of the latter plant were sufficiently 

 developed, we found it difficult to get 

 flowering examples of the coast plant, and 

 had to pay several visits to different localities 

 before securing a few belated blooms. The 

 result of our comparisons led us to the 

 conclusion that the dune plant was certainly 

 not ordinary H. latifolia, and, in fact, it did 

 not seem to agree with anything described in 

 British Floras." 



SatyriuM BICALLOSUM. — Of this inter- 

 esting South African Orchid Dr. Bolus has 

 remarked: — "In the structure of the column 

 this species differs from any other known to 

 me. The anther, instead of hanging vertically 

 under the rostellum with its glands pointing 

 forward, as is the typical structure in the 

 genus, appears as if pushed up against the 

 apex of the column, so as to be nearly 

 horizontal, with the glands turned to the back 



