Plate 213. 



PHALJENOPSIS VEITCHII. 



This charming plant is the rarest of all the Phalsenopsids, only a solitary individual being 

 in cultivation, namely, that in the collection of Messrs. J. Yeitch and Sons, of Chelsea, to 

 whose courtesy we are indebted for the opportunity of making the drawing from which our 

 plate has been prepared. The plant is supposed to be a natural hybrid between P. rosea of 

 gardens (P. equestris, Echb. f.) and P. Schilleriana. The leaves are like those of P. amabilis, 

 with faint traces of the markings which characterise P. Schilleriana, and the roots are round 

 and smooth, not flattened and rugose as in the last-named species. The sepals and petals 

 are nearly those of P. rosea in shape, but much larger, and the lip is quite unique in its way, 

 its apex being terminated by two peculiar straight, sharp-edged teeth, as shown in our plate, 

 which is the first hitherto published of this rare and beautiful plant. It succeeds tolerably 

 well in the Yeitchian collection, planted in a shallow- teak-wood basket, and, like all other 

 Phalsenopsids, it nourishes best when suspended in a good diffused light near the glass. 

 Were it more plentiful it would indeed be a choice addition to all good collections. 



Plate 214. 



HIBISCUS COLLEEII. 



Among the tropical varieties of Hibiscus there are many of the most gorgeous beauty, but 

 we know of none more pleasing than that we now figure. The large, soft, buff, crimson- 

 streaked flowers hang gracefully beneath the freshest of glossy foliage ; and, as the plant 

 grows and blooms freely in an ordinary plant-stove, it well deserves culture as a distinct and 

 useful decorative plant. The form of the flower is rather peculiar, the crowded petals being 

 arranged along a central axis three to four inches in length. Here, as in many other double 

 flowers, the duplication is owing to the stamens having become petaloid, and as the stamens 

 of most Malvads are arranged on a long central style, it follows that when they become 

 changed into petals — as in this case — they still keep to the normal form of arrangement. 

 The plant was introduced from the South Sea Islands by Mr. W. Bull, of Chelsea, in whose 

 collection our drawing was made early in April last. One of the chief merits of this variety 

 is its novel colour, and it also has the desirable habit of blooming in a young state, and, the 

 flowers being produced in gradual succession from the axils of the leaves, the plant, if 

 well grown, lasts a long time in beauty. 



