THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[September, 1914. 



Vanda Lowii, at Air. Gosto Behary Seal's 

 garden house attracted quite a large number 

 of local Orchidists. The visitors, all keen 

 collectors, must have considered themselves 

 fortunate to witness such a noble specimen of 

 this species, as it is doubtful if another similar 

 plant exists outside of its natural habitat. 

 The accompanying photograph will at least 

 give readers of the ORCHID WORLU an idea 

 of its magnitude. 



From actual measurements this particular 

 specimen was found to have ten growths, one 

 7 ft. 3 in., one 5 ft. 6 in., four i ft. 9 in., and 

 four 10 in. in length. It produced eight 

 flower spikes having an average length of 

 7 J ft., and carried an aggregate of 135 

 splendid flowers. 



Apart from being the possessor of this 

 noble specimen Mr. G. B. Seal has the credit 

 of owning one of the finest collections of 

 Orchids in Bengal, many of his specimen 

 plants of other species would undoubtedly be 

 envied by private collectors and trade dealers 

 in England. As well as the Vanda Lowii 

 specimen there is a large plant of Arachnanthe 

 Rohaniana consisting of two growths, one 

 5 ft. and the other i ft. in length, which this 

 season produced a flower spike 6 ft. long with 

 25 flowers. There is also a noble specimen 

 of Grammatophyllum speciosum with four 

 flower spikes carr\'ing no less than 100 

 blooms of ochre-yellow colour blotched with 

 red and purple. 



Mr. Seal does not appear to find any 

 difficulty in flowering the South American 

 species, Cattleyas, Laslias, Oncidiums, and 

 others, all giving excellent results. Quite a 

 large number of beautiful hybrids have 

 recently been in flower, of which mention may 

 be made of Brasso-Cattleya conspicua (C. 

 Leopoldii x B. glauca), Brasso-Laslia Helen 

 (B. Digbyana x L. tenebrosa), Laslio-Cattleya 

 Philip Stokes (L.-C. elegans x C. Leopoldii) 

 and L.-C. elegans, as well as Cypripedium 

 calurum''(longifolium x Sedenii). 



Among the interesting species there are 

 good varieties of Cypripedium niveum, and 

 C. bellatulum, Oncidium Papilio majus and 

 O. pulvinatum, Cattleya Leopoldii, C. Loddi- 

 gesii, and C. Harrisoniana, brides Lawrenceae 



and A. qumquevulverum, and Grammato- 

 phyllum multiiiorum, the latter a handsome 

 species from the Philippines. With such a 

 suitable climate it is not surprising that 

 Phalsenopses thrive exceedingly well, among 

 them being P. rosea arid P. cornucervi. 



Referring to the illustration of Vanda 

 Lowii it IS of interest to note what a compara- 

 tively small amount of compost is used. Any 

 excess of sour material around the roots of 

 an Orchid invariably brings about an 

 unhealthy existence ; in this case the rooting 

 portion of the plant is perfectly clean and 

 healthy and no doubt mainly accounts for the 

 production of the two vigorous upright 

 growths with their long pendulous flower 

 spikes. — Chas. Power, Barrackpurc, Bengal. 



Arachnanthe Lowii. — Another fine 

 plant of this species is in the collection of 

 Mr. A. R. Lamb, Ballygunge, Calcutta. It 

 consists of three strong growths, one of which 

 has this season produced three spikes of 

 bloom, one having as many as 53 flowers. 

 Mr. Lamb has recently returned from a trip 

 m the Sikkim district where he found Orchids 

 m plenty, most of which he had previously 

 seen in Assam. The genus best represented 

 was Cymbidiuni, of which there were several 

 kinds. 



DISA VEITCHII. 



As the first artificially raised hybrid in the 

 genus Disa Veitchii will always remain of 

 interest. It first flowered in June, i8gi, when 

 it was named in honour of the raiser and 

 received a First-class Certificate from the 

 Royal Horticultural Society. The parents 

 were D. racemosa and D. grandiflora, the 

 resulting seedlings reaching maturity in a 

 remarkably short space of time, only twenty- 

 one months elapsing from the sowing of the 

 seed to the opening of the first flowers. The 

 blooms are bright rose-pink, with the excep- 

 tion of the petals, which are yellowish, spotted 

 with crimson. 



