254 
THE ORCHID WORLD. 
BRASSAVOLA DIGBYANA AND ITS CATTLEYA HYBRIDS. 
OF all the many different and beautiful 
hybrids which have been derived from 
Laelias and Cattleyas, probably no class 
has been so eagerly sought after or produced 
such splendid results as that in which Brassa- 
vola Digbyana has been one of the parents. 
For this reason it will be mterestmg to 
briefly note the history of the Brassavola 
hybrids from the date of the flowering of the 
first one up to the present time. For the 
sake of orderly nomenclature the Brasso- 
Cattleyas only will be mentioned in this 
article. The Brasso-L^lias and other 
hybrids will be considered in a future note. 
It should be noted that Mrs. McDonald, 
wife of the Governor of British Honduras, 
sent over the first plant of Brassavola 
Digbyana to Mr. Edward St. Vincent Digby, 
at Minterne, Dorsetshire, and that in the 
year 1846 it flowered and was figured and 
described by Lindley in the Botanical 
Register (vol. xxxii., t. 53), while a few years 
later we read of it flowering at Kew and 
being figured in the Botanical Magazine 
(t. 4474). 
Bentham transferred both ,B. Digbyana 
and B. glauca to the genus Laslia, but they 
have since been restored to the original name 
Brassavola, as used by Lindley. This fact 
will exiplain why, in some of the earlier 
records of its hybrids, we so frequently Ifind 
one parent being given as Laslia Digbyana. 
To Messrs. Veitch must belong the honour 
of exhibiting the first Digbyana hybrid. 
Those who were at the meeting of the Royal 
Horticultural Society, held on May 14th, 1889', 
will well remember the excitement caused 
by a plant named Brasso-Cattleya Digbyano- 
Mossias being exhibited and receiving a 
First-class ^Certificate from the Orchid Com- 
mittee. The large flower of this hybrid with 
its beautiful fringed lip so stimulated Orchid 
growers that every plant in flower of 
B. Digbyana was eagerly purchased by 
enthusiastic hybridi.sts, and seed pods in 
different stages of formation could be seen 
in almost every collection where Cattleyas 
and Laelias were grown. 
The year 1897 saw the second hybrid from 
B. Digbyana, this the result of being crossed 
with Cattleya Trianas. Another First-class 
Certificate was won by Messrs. Veitch, who 
exhibited it under the name Brasso-Cattleya 
Digbyano-Trianas, while later in the same 
year a plant flowered from. B. Digbyana x 
C. Gaskelliana, and received the name 
Brasso-Cattleya Thorntonii. It received a 
First-class Certificate, April 26th, 1898. 
No less than six awards have been made 
to plants under the name Brasso-Cattleya 
Digbyano-Mendelii. The earliest, a First- 
class Certificate, having been given on March 
14th, 1889, to Mons. Ch. Maron, of Brunoy, 
France, who named his variety " Imperatrice 
de Russie." A similar award was made to 
the Tring Park variety exhibited by Lord 
Rothschild on May 7th, 1901 ; while Veitch's 
variety, staged on August 27th, and Hessle 
variety shown by Mr. Burkinshaw on 
November 12th, also received First-class 
Certificates during the year 1901. Five 
seasons later Mr. Bradshaw obtained an 
Award of Merit for his variety " Fortuna." 
No more special varieties appeared until Sir 
George Holford exhibited his variety 
" Perfecta." This had a silver-white back- 
ground, with a slight blush-pink tint, and a 
distinct yellow disc on the lip. It received 
an Award of Merit on March 23rd, 1909, 
and is the last variety of Digbyano-Mendelii 
that the Royal Horticultural Society has 
certificated. 
Brasso-Cattleya Madame Chas. Maron is 
the name for B. Digbyana x C. Warsce- 
wiczii, or better known in gardens as C. 
gigas. The late Baron Schroder obtained 
a First-Class Certificate for this hybrid on 
October 7th, 1902. It should, however, be 
noted that Mons. Maron had previously 
exhibited at the Royal Horticultural Society 
a plant with the same parentage, on 
September 24th, 1901 ; and for a very fine 
