Marcli, 1914.J 



TH1<: ORCHID WORLD. 



ovary and the back of the greenish-yellow 

 sepals, beuig covered with whitish tomentum. 

 ■ — Francis Varacck, The Gardens, Petit 

 Chateau de Brunoy. 



4? 1^ ^ 



Registered Orchids. — There is to be an 

 organised attempt to schedule new-named 

 hybrids, and the accepted name shall stand 

 always as the family name for all varieties of 

 the same cross. The Manchester Orchid 

 Society is willing to co-operate with the Royal 

 Horticultural Society for the desired end. 

 The result will be instructive, but only 

 partially satisfying to the student of genetics. 

 Recently some Odontoglossum hybrids that 

 rank amongst the best have received F.C.C. 

 awards. Most of them are of unrecorded 

 parentage. The exhibitor does not care 

 about the parentage ; why should he ? He 

 loves the beauty of the flowers, which delight 

 the eye and titillate his aesthetic sense. His 

 greenhouses are full of the most exquisite 

 Orchids. He is an artist, not a scientist. And 

 so a percentage of the very choicest Orchids 

 will escape the meshes of the recorder. Yet 

 they will be used for breeding, and probably 

 breed the best. For this reascm the work that 

 is to be undertaken will be unsatisfactory to 

 the breeder who wishes to work on scientific 

 lines. He cannot make use of Orchids of 

 unknown parentage, for though he may breed 

 valuable and l)cautiful seedlings he learns 

 nothing. For the Coniniittce to insist loo 

 strongly upon a parentage being given would 

 be unwise, for the temptation might arise to 

 make cme to fit. No information is better 

 than false information. It is oiil)- a few weeks 

 ag<j that Piimh illustrated the situation by 

 the following dialogue: English liorse dealer 

 (to Irish horse dealer from whom he is buying 

 a horse): "How's he bred?" Irish dealer: 

 "Well, how would yc like hiiii bred;-' If lie 

 was for Sir l^athrick up at the Castle he'd be 

 I)y Red Eagle out av an ascetic mare, but ye 

 can suit yerself." Let us be content to lia\c 

 parentages spontaneously sui)|)lied vvithcjut 

 insistence, it will keep the line of action 

 clearer.—" Amus" Manchester. 



THE GENUS ANGR/ECUM. 



To the horticulturists the genus 

 Angraecum includes all those species 

 usually placed by botanists under the 

 alhed genera Listrostachys and Mystacidium, 

 although the systematist has endeavoured to 

 keep the three genera distinct and of equal 

 rank. 



In Angraecum the pollinia are attached to 

 the gland by a single stipes, or stalk ; m 

 Listrostachys two distinct stipes are m 

 evidence, both of which are united to the 

 same single gland ; while the genus Mysta- 

 cidium is characterised by having two stipes, 

 each of which is attached to a separate gland. 



The majority of species belonging to the 

 above have been easily placed under their 

 respective genera, and it was expected that 

 the remainder would be placed in position as 

 soon as an opportunity occurred for the 

 examination of their poUinia. But it now 

 appears more than likely that this classifi- 

 cation cannot be sustained, at least, with any 

 degree of definite accuracy. 



In the recently i)ublislK'(l " Catalogue of 

 Nigerian Plants," issuetl !))■ the Trustees of 

 the Natural Flistory Museum, Dr. l\. B. 

 Rendle remarks: — "It is with iiuuh regret 

 that I have felt compelled to quote the species 

 of Listrostachys and Mystacidium under 

 Angrjccuiii. Dr. .Schlechter has recently 

 gi\en repeated instances of cases where the 

 affinity deduced from general characters is at 

 \ariance with that (hMhiccd from the single 

 character of the ])ollinia and their appendages; 

 species obvifHisly closelv allu-d must be 

 artificially se])arated on this criterion. The 

 multiplicity of names borne by many of the 

 species is an indication of the unsatisfactory 

 nature of the system which continues to 

 maintain this distribution. y\n example is 

 afforded by the species I originally described 

 as Listrostacli) s cla\ata : the polliiiia were 

 attached by their caudicles to a single gland, 

 which, however, being easily separable into 

 two ])arts was 011 this arcounl rclcrred by Mr. 

 Rolfc to Mystacidium. More recently Dr. 

 Schlechter, in descTibiiig a new species, 

 Aiigra-cuiii affme (iii which the two pollen 



