June, 1913.] 
Till- ORCHID WORLD. 
and most distinct varieties. The difficulties 
of nomenclature are with us again, for while 
it may be possible to apply a new name to 
every successive step the hybridist takes, it 
will, in the near future, be quite impossible to 
determine under which name a plant is to 
be placed, should it by any chance lose its 
label or appear as a stray seedling. The 
simplest way out of the difficulty appears to 
be to call every hybrid containing only 
vexillaria and Roezlii, no matter in what 
proportion, by the name Bleuana, and to add 
varietal words to distinguish the various 
forms. 
Now, seeing that between thirty and forty 
varieties of Miltonia vexillaria have been 
certificated by the Royal Horticultural Society 
as distinct forms, there is evidently plenty 
of material for the hybridist to work from. 
The variety of vexillaria known as G. D. 
Owen at once comes to the front as a suitable 
plant, and the more one studies this flower, 
so much the more remarkable does it appear. 
The large, dark crimson blotch on the crest 
portion of the labellum is a great attraction, 
and it is the further development of this 
feature that hybridists are working for. The 
origin of this elegant blotch of colour seems 
beyond hope of discovery. It is, however, 
quite permanent, reappearing on the flower 
of the same plant year after year with never- 
failing accuracy. Its nearest relation is 
vexillaria Leopoldii, but strange to say, this 
usually flowers in the autumn, and therefore, 
is not always available for use when other 
vexillarias are in flower. The variety of 
Bleuana known as Stevensii was produced by 
its use. 
M. vexillaria chelseaensis is another variety 
with the labellum marked with crimson-purple, 
the blotch having radiating lines which are 
extended by means of various sized spots of 
similar colour. At the recent Ghent Show a 
promising seedling between G. D. Owen and 
chelseaensis was exhibited by Messrs. Charles- 
worth, and although the well-defined blotch 
was not quite so large as that of the former 
parent, it proved that it is capable of being 
transmitted to the offspring. 
VOL. III. 
A careful survey of a large number of 
flowering plants of vexillaria will show how 
very seldom any depth of colour, other than 
yellow, appears on the crest area of the 
labellum. The species is so constant in form 
and coloration that any variation may be 
taken as a rarity worth further cultivation. 
However, now and again a rich rose coloured 
form appears, and in almost all of these it is 
noticed that the crest area on the labellum 
Miltonia Phalanopsis " McBean s var." 
still rem.ains in its typical yellowish- white 
state. It is on account of this apparent 
impossibility for the yellow area to acquire 
any other colour that the remarkable blotched 
forms of the G. D. Owen type make such a 
lasting impression of wonderment upon the 
minds of the specialist. How, or by what 
means, this blotch was first developed will 
probably always remain an unsolved mystery. 
An homologous example is Odontoglossum 
crispum solum, figured in ORCHID WORLD, 
Vol. II., p. 249, although in this plant the 
27 
