THE ORCHID WORLD. 



8i 



hybridisation produce yellow, and have 

 selected two B. Digbyana hybrids for this 

 purpose, as I can find no record of a pure 

 albino having been used with a yellow-albino, 

 the whitish B. Digbyana being the nearest 

 approach to this that I can find. 



There are among Laelias more self yellows 

 than among Cattleyas, but as only the best 

 for our purpose need interest us at present, I 

 should select L. Cowanii, as it has the richest 

 and purest yellow. Laelia Cowanii has not a 

 good shape, but neither have flava, harpo- 

 phylla, cinnabarina, nor monophylla. There 

 are very few L. Cowanii hybrids in existence, 

 and none to tell us how it will act when united 

 with an albino ; but I should have every 

 confidence m it, and the few hybrids that have 

 flowered with L. Cowanii for a parent have 

 invariably been good, and in two cases, not- 

 withstanding that coloured varieties were 

 used with it, they were self yellows — namely, 

 L.-c. Oriens (L. Cowanii x C. Trianae) and 

 L. Gwennie (L. Cowanii x L. Jongheana). 



Instances of this kind would srem to 

 indicate that the way to produce yellow 

 hybrids would be to mate coloured species 

 (and not their albino forms) with tiie yellow 

 species, and no doubt many good yellows 

 have been so produced as primary hybrids; 

 but it would be quite impossible to continue 

 the process to the next generation in pursuit 

 of size and shape — their inherent weakness — • 

 without introducing colour into the labellum, 

 and, with the exception of cases where C. 

 Dowiana would be used as the next parent, 

 into other parts of the flower as well. 



The conclusions that I have been endeav- 

 ouring to come to are, briefly, that with 

 Cattleya citrina, a yellow-albino, with Laelia 

 Cowanii, a yellow-albino, and with the albinos 

 of the labiata group of Cattleyas, it ought to 

 be possible to build up a self-yellow Cattleya 

 of perfect shape. This would not be the 

 work of the' first cross, but secondaries and 

 tertiaries should see us there. 



We have plenty of instances on record where 

 species with narrow segments have become 

 incorporated into perfectly shaped hybrids 

 while transmitting at the same time a full 

 measure of their own particular and desirable 



characteristics, as witnessed, for exainplc, in 

 Lslia-Cattleya Firminii, a hybrid composed 

 of L. cinnabarina, C. Mossiae and C. Dowiana, 

 and in Brasso-Catltleya Cliftoinii, a hybrid 

 composed of Brassavola Digbyana, C. 

 Mossias and C. Trianae. In the former 

 instance the L. cinnabarina has transmitted 

 its colour, its desirable characteristic, in a 

 marked degree, while its notoriously bad 

 shape has been lost ; and in the latter 

 instance the B. Digbyana has transmitted its 

 bold fringed lip in a great measure, its 

 desirable characteristic, while its weak sepals 

 and petals have become filled up. 



As the albinos of the labiata section have 

 the largest and best forms, when good, the 

 hybridist will have to rely upon them for size 

 and shape, but any albino that makes for this 

 can be used. One of the prettiest all-yellow 

 Laelio-Cattleyas that I have seen is L.-c. 

 Daffodil, a very beautiful form of which the 

 enterprising firm of Messrs. Armstrong and 

 Brown exhibited in the spring of igo8. This 

 hybrid is the result of crossing L.-c. Mercia 

 (C. Schroderae x L. flava) with L. Jongheana 

 alba, and it was very appropriately named. 



But will the white not absorb the yellow? 

 is a query that suggests itself. I do not think 

 so, and there is nothing to point in that 

 direction, but much to testify the reverse. 

 The yellow in L. Cowanii and C. citrina is 

 very different to the pale and undecided 

 yellow in C. Dowiana, which so often loses 

 itself when crossed with a white variety of 

 another Cattleya, the white seeming to play 

 a disproportionate part in the hybrid ; but I 

 will leave the discussion of this phenomenon 

 to my future article on the yellow Cattleya 

 with coloured labellum. 



If we in our endeavours to produce a perfect 

 all-yellow Cattleya confine our selection of 

 parents to the albino varieties of coloured 

 species and the yellow-albino species that I 

 have named, of one thing I am convinced, and 

 that is that our hybrids will never develop 

 any other colour than yellow ; and run in 

 whatever direction the hybrid may it can 

 never be other than yellow or white, and both 

 are by far the scarcest forms in the Cattleya 

 and L<xlia genera and their common progeny. 



VOL. II. 



12 



