December, 1912.] 
THE ORCHin WORLD. 
53 
however, they represent a class one foresees 
danger m making use of the theory. 
Cattleya Trianae alba is notoriously incon- 
stant, and the plant in one collection does 
not necessarily contain the same factor as the 
plant m another collection, unless it is a 
sub-division of the same plant. 
Theories are sometimes formed upon the 
evidence of others, and in getting evidence 
together one has to rely upon the judgment of 
others, who, without the least intention of 
misleading, may record a flower as white 
which is not white. So much does the opinion 
as to what is white vary, that one sees plants 
in flower exhibited as white which are 
distinctly flushed with colour upon the sepals 
and petals. 
One recognises, of course, that there must 
be factors, for without them there could be 
no products, but the suggestion that the whole 
range of whites in Orchids is covered by one 
of two factors appears to me to be 
hypothetical. 
The theory that " an albino Orchid is 
distinguished from a coloured one by the 
absence of purple sap " is one which carries 
us beyond the sphere of white Orchids, and 
seems to have been propounded m order to 
account for the vagaries of Cypripedium 
insigne Sanderae, C. Lawrenceanum Hyeanum, 
etc., which have been classed as albinos 
This definition may serve a useful purpose 
in assisting the Cypripedium raiser, but as it 
includes yellows and greens it appears to me 
to cover too much ground to be useful to 
those raisers who are endeavouring to obtain 
white Orchids from seed. 
When one contemplates mating one Orchid 
with another the mind looks forward and 
imagines that the colours one sees in the 
proposed parents will be so blended together 
as to produce in the flowers of the seedlings 
the same results as are produced by the 
blending of pigments in art, or the colours of 
the spectrum ; and, in a broad sense, bearing 
in mind that some colours are more powerful 
than others, I believe that the same combina- 
tion of colours takes place in Orchids. 
The dictionary definition of white is 
"reflecting to the eye all the rays of the 
spectrum combined," that is to say, " having 
all the constituent colours so blended that no 
colour is predominant," and I believe that this 
IS the correct definition of the white in Orchid 
flowers. 
Now whilst the perfect blending of all the 
colours of the spectrum jjroduces perfect 
white, where the blending r)f the colours is not 
perfect a perfect white is not produced. The 
synthetic white of the Physics laboratory 
produced from pigments resembling all the 
colours of the spectrum, and combined, does 
not give perfect white. In the same way 
there are various whites m Orchid flowers, 
comparable to paper-white, snow-white, milk- 
white, and cream-white, each of which is 
distinguishable from the others. 
Sir William Abdy, in a lecture at the 
Central Technical College, caused to be 
thrown upon a sheet, by means of a lantern, 
three superimposed photographic pictures 
projected through three coloured screens 
thereby obtaining a coloured picture upon 
the sheet. The white objects m the view 
which had been photographed were repro- 
duced white upon the sheet notwithstanding 
that the light had passed through coloured 
screens ; that is to say, white, not necessarily 
perfect, had been produced by means of 
colours. 
Now considering that almost every Orchid 
known to us has a white variety there must 
be some logical reason for its existence, and 
if the perfect combination of colour produces 
white I think I am justified in concluding that 
it is the combination of colour which produces 
the white, more or less perfectly, in Orchid 
flowers. 
This opinion seems to drive me still further 
away from the desired object of obtaining 
white Orchids from seed, because I can never 
hope to blend red, yellow, and blue flowers by 
crossing so perfectly as to produce white 
flowers. Experience, however, tells me that 
white can be built up bv choosing purple 
flowers upon one side and yellow upon the 
other, and the fainter the purple colour is, not 
only do the flowers of the seedlings more 
nearly approach white, but the proportion of 
white over coloured flowers is greater. 
VOL. ill. 
7 
