July, 1913.] 
THK ORCHID WORLD. 
229 
native home is able to exist is more than we 
can say. Possibly, under the correct climatic 
conditions, plants grow with great rapidity in 
their native home, and all we can do is to 
hope that such may continue to be the case. 
To be deprived of this elegant and really 
Orchidaceous looking plant would indeed be 
one of the greatest losses ever sustained by 
amateurs. A large mass makes a fine 
exhibition plant, especially when placed on 
the stem of a tree fern, which should be about 
two feet high, and placed in a pot with the 
common, or some other, Selaginella growing 
on the stem of the fern. It was in this 
method that Mr. B. S. Williams, more thaji 
thirty years ago, showed at the Amsterdam 
International Exhibition a plant with about 
twenty flowers on it, when it was very greatly 
admired. 
In Robert Warner's " Select Orchidaceous 
Plants," 1881, Series III., Plate XVIII., there 
is an excellent coloured figure of this plant 
carrying four flowers, and, in the adjoining 
text, is the remarkable statement: — "We 
should like to see this species fertilised with 
some of the more showy kind, such as C. 
Mossiae, C. Mendelii, etc., for we have no 
doubt that something might in this way be 
produced. It would be a great gain to get 
the yellow hue of this plant associated with 
the rich markings of our numerous high- 
coloured Cattleyas, so many of which bloom 
about the same time." 
Ever since this was written how much 
has been attempted and how little done. 
Although more than thirty years have 
elapsed, there is still the same desire in the 
minds of hybridists, and, so far as it is 
possible to prophesy, this will continue for at 
least a similar period. 
Two prominent difficulties with regard to 
hybridisation are the delicate constitution of 
the plant, and the pendulous nature of the 
flower spikes. In the first case we find that 
even when seedHngs have passed the initial 
stage they are so weak that further progress 
is rendered impossible. On the other hand, 
almost all the aUied plants with which it will 
hybridise produce their flowers in an erect 
VOL. III. 
state, and on that account there will always 
remain a very undecided point as to whether 
the growth and flowers of the seedlings will 
be produced in a horizontal and intermediate 
position, or whether they will acquire the 
pendulous habit of citrina, or the erect nature 
of other species. 
The following is a complete list of the 
recorded hybrids: — 
Cattleya citrino-intermedia was raised in 
the collection of Dr. Harris, of Lamberhurst, 
and first flowered in November, 1887, when 
6^ years old. On October 23rd, 1888, it was 
shown at the Royal Horticultural Society by 
Baron Schroder, and received a First-class 
Certificate under the name Lamberhurst 
hybrid. 
Laslio-Cattleya Seraph is the result of 
crossing L.-C. elegans with C. citrina. It 
was shown by Mr. Ingram, of Godalming, at 
the Royal Horticultural Society, August, 
1896, and received an Award of Merit. 
Cattleya Shakersii is a hybrid between C. 
citrina and C. Aclandise, and was raised by 
Mons. Fanyau in 1904. 
Brasso-Cattleya H. G. Alexander is the 
result of crossing C. citrina with B. Digbyana. 
It bears the name of its raiser, and first 
flowered at Westonbirt, March, 1907. During 
the same month it received an Award of 
Merit, Royal Horticultural Society. 
Cattleya Butleri was produced by crossing 
C. citrina with C. Schilleriana. It flowered in 
Mr. W. Waters Butler's collection, November. 
191 1. 
Laelio-Cattleya Freak is the latest addition 
to the list, and was raised in the Warnham 
Court collection by crossing C. citrina with 
L. purpurata. When exhibited by Mr. C. J. 
Lucas at the Royal Horticultural Society, 
June 3rd, 191 3, a Certificate of Appreciation 
was granted. 
Although the above are interesting in more 
ways than one, there is not much to say 
regarding their good qualities for future 
hybridisation, for, with the exception of B.-C. 
H. G. Alexander, all these hybrids have been 
produced with the use of purple coloured 
30 
