THE 



ORCHID WORLD. 



SEPTEMBER. 1912. 



Vol. 2. 



NOTES 



No. 12 



OphRVS APIFERA. — Throughout the summer 

 season a continuous exhibition of Sussex wild 

 flowers is held at the Brighton Museum, speci- 

 mens being received from all parts of the 

 county. It is of interest to note that the 

 varieties of Ophrys apifera from the sand- 

 stone of the Forest Ridge are larger flowering- 

 than those usually found on the chalk. The 

 somewhat scarce Herminium monorchis has 

 also been exhibited. 



British Orchids. — A recent issue of the 

 Nature Photographer, the official organ of the 

 Nature Photographic Society, contains some 

 notes by Mr. E. J. Bedford on British Wild 

 Orchids. The author has been engaged for 

 several past seasons in obtaining a series of 

 photographs, stereoscopic if possible, ol the 

 plants in their natural position, the collection 

 now including thirty-one species. Last year 

 the rare Orchis hircina was discovered in East 

 Sussex, and a reproduction of its photograph, 

 taken June 22nd, igii, appears in the above 

 publication. 



u ri 1$ 



Lycaste Barringtoni.^:. — The genus 

 Lycaste contains about forty species, all 

 natives of tropical America from the West 

 Indies and Mexico to Peru. The island of 

 Jamaica possesses but one species, and that 

 L. Barringtoniae, a flower of which has been 

 sent by Mr. ]. Harris, Orchid grov/er to Col. 



Henty, Avisford, Arundel, Sussex. The droop- 

 ing olive-green flowers are about two inches 

 in length ; the lip light buff in colour, with a 

 fringed margin, and a deeply furrowed callus. 

 It is found growing on rocks and trees, and 

 usually flowers from April to June. A spike 

 of Epidendrum anceps with its light greenish- 

 brown flowers crowded almost into a head 

 also comes from the same collection. This 

 species is very widely distributed, but the 

 actual specimen in the Avisford collection was 

 obtained from Jamaica. 



?,S rtS -5^ 



A Real Bird's-nest Orchid.— The roots 

 of Neottia Nidus-avis are so crossed and 

 entangled as to resemble, in miniature, a 

 crow's nest, hence its popular name, the 

 Bird's-nest Orchid. But reality is better than 

 fancy. During the present summer some 

 wrens obtained access to the Orchid house 

 of Mrs. Player, Alexandra Park, Nottingham, 

 and built a cosy nest in a large specimen Ada 

 aurantiaca. Six eggs were hatched, ?nd the 

 young birds successfully reared and taken 

 away by their parents, thus making a most 

 interesting and unique occurrence. In the 

 same collection is an exceptionally strong 

 plant of Stanhopea tigrina ; it fills a 16-inch 

 basket and has recently carried 14 spikes, 

 each one having two large flowers. Another 

 excellent example of good culture is a large 

 specimen Coelogyne Dayana which carried no 

 less than 32 long pendulous spikes, each 

 having from 20 to 22 well developed flowers. 



VOL II. 



34 



