Plate 187. 



CYPEIPEDIUM HYBRIDTJM. 



The exceedingly handsome hybrid Cypripedium figured on Plate 187 comes from the 

 famous house of Veitch and Sons, of Chelsea, which house has for many years been noted for 

 the production of marvellous hybrid Orchids. Cypripedium hybridum was raised by Mr. 

 Seden, of the above firm, and is a cross between C. barbatum fertilised with the pollen 

 of C. Stonei. In habit the plant is intermediate between the two parents ; less compact and 

 taller than C. barbatum, it still has more of the spreading habit and the bolder foliage of 

 C. Stonei. In the colour of the leaves it also partially reproduces the peculiarities of both 

 parents : the blotches of the leaves of C. barbatum are faintly represented on the richer 

 glossy green ground that characterises C. Stonei ; the leaves are longer and stouter than 

 those of C. barbatum, but shorter and broader than those of C. Stonei. It is now more than 

 twenty years ago, and at a time when very little was known of the fertilisation of Orchids, 

 that Mr. Dominy, of the firm of Veitch and Sons, first turned his attention (at Exeter) to 

 the possibility of hybridising Orchids, and two of his best known hybrids, viz., Cattleya 

 Exoniensis and Cattleya Yeitchii, are still amongst the very handsomest of all our cultivated 

 Orchidacefe. These results were obtained at a time when Mr. Darwin's investigations and 

 results were still unpublished. The minute seeds of most Orchids are very slow to germinate, 

 and from seven to ten years have at times to elapse before the bloom of the seedling plant 

 appears. In these hybrids (and the plant now before us is a good example of the fact) it 

 generally happens that traces of both parents are clearly visible in the progeny. 



Plate 188. 



NERINE JAPONICA. 



The lovely bulbous plant here figured was kindly sent to us for illustration by the New 

 Plant and Bulb Company, Lion Walk, Colchester. It is new, quite hardy, and till now has 

 never been figured. Its newness is vouched for by Mr. Baker, of Kew, who has decided 

 upon its being a good new species, evidently allied to N. fiexuosa and N. humilis. It is, 

 therefore, different from any form of the Guernsey Lily (1ST. sarmiensis), with which it was at 

 first suspected to belong. As for its hardiness, this is vouched for by the New Plant and 

 Bulb Company, who have it in their possession, and who have had it out of doors for two 

 years past. Bulbs were presented to Kew twelve months ago. Nerine forms a small genus 

 of ornamental Amaryllidaceous bulbous plants, principally coming from South Africa; but our 

 plant grows naturally in sandy places by the waysides near Yokohama, in Japan, flowering 

 in October, and sending up its leaves in early spring. The New Plant and Bulb Company 

 have sent for our inspection a native drawing of this species, and the trusses of bloom on 

 Japanese plants are about six inches in diameter. The flowers (as seen in our plate) are of a 

 fine full crimson colour. N. Japonica is likely to prove a valuable addition to our garden 

 flowers. As ordinarily grown, the bulbs of the Guernsey Lily are commonly cast aside after 

 once flowering, but with good cultivation these Amaryllids may be not only made to flower 

 year after year, but to produce a good crop of offsets. When the plants have once bloomed 

 they should not be starved in the manner usually practised, but replanted in a cold frame, 

 near the glass, with a temperature of about 40 deg. 



