178 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[May, 1914. 



About furty genera have already been 

 employed by the breeder, and of these some 

 hundreds of species have been hybridised, 

 and from them thousands of hybrids have 

 been raised. Hybrid animals are usually 

 infertile, and so cannot perpetuate their kind, 

 and a few hybrid plants are infertile to some 

 degree. In the case of Orchids it has, 

 however, been found that even when the 

 pollen is not capable of fertilising its own or 

 another flower, the flower producing such 

 pollen may be quite capable of receiving and 

 being fertilised by the pollen from another 

 and fertile source. In other words, some 

 hybrids have the maternal and not the 

 paternal capacity. There is no great difficulty 

 in getting Orchids to set pods, but perfect 

 seeds are produced much more rarely than is 

 generally supposed, and to this may be 

 attributed the many failures that culti- 

 vators experience in their attempt to raise 

 hybrids." 



The practical j^art of cultnation was dealt 

 with at some length, and many valuable hints 

 were given. The lecturer remarked : " The 

 state of the atmosphere is without doubt of 

 equal, if not of more, importance than the 

 potting compost. Light is the very life of 

 most plants, but it is less under control than 

 any other factor. Possibly in no other 

 cultural detail are Orchids so liable to be 

 mismanaged as in respect to shading. The 

 great influence that light has upon Orchids is 

 seen in the plants grown under it, for not 

 only are these freer flowering, but the 

 enduring properties of the blooms are greatly 

 increased, frequently to the extent of lasting 

 twice as long as others grown under more or 

 less dense shade. Moreover, the plants are 

 hardier and not so liable to be affected by 

 slight errors of treatment. 



" In the case of those kinds that need a 

 high temperature, and with the ever-accom- 

 panying moist conditions of the atmosphere, 

 it is not always possible to give them air in 

 the amount received when growing naturally, 

 but it is possible to make up this deficiency 

 by giving the plants as much light as they will 

 safely bear. I will not suggest that Orchids, 

 except just a few, will bear full exposure to 



light, but the aim should be to control it m 

 keeping with tlie plant's requirements. 

 Shading should be employed to break or 

 diffuse the sun's rays, instead of totally 

 obscuring them, as is often the case." 



ORCHIDS OF BORNEO. 



A contribution to the Flora and Plant 

 formations of Mount Kinabalu and the 

 Highlands of British North Borneo, by Lilian 

 -S. Gibbs, F.L.S., has been published in a 

 recent issue of the Journal of the Linnean 

 Society. 



Kinabalu is the highest mountain of the 

 Malay Archipelago and was first ascended 

 by Sir Hugh Low, who made the ascent in 

 March, 185 1. Of the 50 species described, no 

 less than 42 were collected on Mt. Kinabalu, 

 and of these latter no fewer than 23 are not 

 yet known from elsewhere, and five others 

 are only known from Borneo. 



It is of interest to compare this collection 

 with that made by Dr. Haviland eighteen 

 years earlier ; and Mr. R. A. Rolfe, who is 

 responsible for the Orchidaceas, remarks : 

 " Ridley enumerated 24 species as collected 

 by Dr. Haviland, of which 18 (or a proportion 

 of 75 per cent.) were endemic. To these must 

 be added two species not enumerated by 

 Ridley, making a total of 26, of which 20 were 

 endemic. Miss Gibbs has only re-collected 

 seven of these, but on the other hand she has 

 made 35 additions (this only includes those 

 actually collected on Mt. Kinabalu itself), so 

 that if the two collections are added together 

 we get an aggregate of 61 species found on 

 the mountain, of which 53 (or a proportion 

 of 80 per cent.) are not known from 

 elsewhere." 



Sigmatochilus is the name given to a new 

 genus to include a very curious plant of the 

 Coelogyne type, which has the lip free from 

 the column and strongly sigmatoid in shape. 

 The well-known species include Phalaenopsis 

 amabilis, Coelogyne Dayana, Phaius Blumei, 

 and Spathoglottis aurea. The remainder are 

 chiefly of botanical interest. 



