January, 19H-] 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



77 



SOPHRONITIS HYBRIDS. 



I WAS much interested m reading m your 

 last issue Mr. Alwyn Harrison's article 

 on Sophronitis hybrids. They have 

 always been especial favourites of ours, and 

 much time and thought have been given to 

 them here because we think some of the most 

 beautiful hybrids possible will come out of 

 them. 



I do not agree with him as to their not 

 possessing good constitutions. We think 

 them very strong. They inherit, from the 

 Sophronitis parent, the habit of breaking 

 freely and making many leads, which we call 

 the Sophronitis habit. We have a plant of 

 Sophronitis grandiflora we bought last year 

 with three leads which now has seven. They 

 multiply rapidly on this account, in spite of 

 the fact that with us almost every bloom that 

 appears on them is fertilised, and they often 

 carry two pods at the same time. 



We only had seven plants of Sophro- 

 Cattleya Doris to begin with, and almost all 

 our plants of it have been divisions of these. 

 Sophro-Cattleya Thwaitesii, S.-C. Blackii, and 

 others, are equally good for divisions. In 

 many instances this fine trait of breaking 

 freely seems to be carried forward to the next 

 generation. I notice particularly one batch of 

 seedlings from S.-C. Thwaitesii x C. Fabia, 

 they are only about 2h years old, and a good 

 many of them have already two leads, and a 

 few even three. A plant of C. Adula x S.-C. 

 Felicia made four leads when quite young. 



We find Sophronitis seedlings very free to 

 llower, beginning to bloom on quite small 

 plants, and not stopped by pod bearing. We 

 bought a plant of Sophrocattla?lia Marathon 

 last July, in flower, we podded it, but tlie pod 

 having failed the plant was divided ; it has 

 grown well, and the same piece that flowered 

 in July IS in bud now, December. 



Of course, their pods are tiny, and the seed 

 small, and sometimes it is rather difficult to 

 raise, but certain crosses have germinated 

 very freely, and once started they grow very 

 rapidly. Someone told me that Cattleya 

 Schroderae seedlings were difficult to raise. 

 We have two nice little batches with 



secondary Sophronitis crosses, and I expect 

 great things from them. 



We are trying a few experiments, making 

 certain crosses both ways, to see if any 

 differences appear in using a large and small 

 flower together, as pollen parent and seed 

 parent. Cattleya aurea x .Sophronitis grandi- 

 flora and S. grandiflora x C. aurea seem to 

 produce just the same, and others too ; but 

 from S. grandiflora x C. Mendelii we had all 

 seedlings with the larger hp, nearer Mendelii ; 

 while from the reverse cross, with Mendelii as 

 the seed parent, a// the seedlings had the 

 smaller lip, nearer the Sophronitis. 



I have sometimes fancied the pollen parent 

 has more influence over the shape of the 

 resulting seedling, but we shall know more 

 about that a little later on. Taking them 

 altogether, I look upon Sophronitis seedlings 

 as long-suffering plants, which will do well 

 with anything like fair treatment. 



Tlinily Thwaites. 



Habits of Brazilian Parasites. — The 

 following note, taken from Walsh's " Notices 

 of Brazil," appeared in the Botanical Register 

 for the year 1839: "The destruction of a 

 tree in these woods does not lessen the 

 abundance of vegetable life. On every 

 blasted stem which had lost its own bark 

 and leaves a crop of parasites had succeeded, 

 and covered the naked wood with their no 

 less luxuriant leaves and flowers. Of these, 

 the different species of air-plants and 

 Tillandsias were most remarkable. The 

 first were no less singular than beautiful ; 

 they attach themselves to the dryest and most 

 sapless surface, and bloom as if issuing from 

 the richest soils. y\ specimen of one of these, 

 which I thought curious, I threw into my 

 portmanteau, where it was forgotten ; and 

 some months after, in unfolding some linen, 

 I was astonished to find a rich scarlet flower, 

 of the gynandrous class, in full blow ; it had 

 not only lived, but vegetated and blossomed, 

 though so long secluded from air, light and 

 humidity. Every withered tree here was 

 covered witli them, bearing flowers of all 

 hues, from bright yellow to deep scarlet." 



VOL. IV. 



II 



