THE FLORAL MAGAZINE 
NEW SERIES.] JANUARY, 1877. [No. 61. 
FLORAL EXHIBITIONS. 
It is very interesting to know that the fortnightly 
meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society are to 
be continued at South Kensington as nsual during 
the coming year; and we have no doubt but that 
amateur and professional horticulturists will strive 
to enhance the interest now felt in these exhibitions by 
contributions of any plants, fruits, vegetables, or 
cut flowers they may ha,ve in perfection at the time. 
These semi-official meetings are far more instructive 
than the formal strictly scheduled “ big” flower 
shows, as no limit is assigned to the plants shown, 
anything and everything of gardening interest is 
available; and the professional gardener has here the 
opportunity afforded him of sending curious plants, 
insects, and specimens of diseased vegetation of all 
kinds; and not only will the correct name of un¬ 
known plants be ascertained, but in many cases 
hints on culture and remedies for insect and other 
enemies will be suggested. In the December issue 
of the ‘ Floral Magazine,’ we alluded to the inter¬ 
esting literature of gardening and kindred subjects 
possessed by the Japanese cultivators; and at the 
last meeting at South Kensington, held on December 
the 6th, several of such works, profusely illustrated 
with carefully executed wood engravings were exhi¬ 
bited by Mr. H. N. Moseley, naturalist of the 
f Challenger ’ expedition. The engravings of 
plants, fruits, and flowers in some of these light 
and handy volumes were remarkably truthful; and 
the same may be said of those in a collection of 
Japanese books collected by the late J. G. Veitch, 
Esq., which are now in the Yeitchian Museum 
at Chelsea. New plants were not so numerous 
as usual, only one being certificated, viz., Odon- 
toglossum Londesboroughianum,” exhibited by Mr. 
W. Denning, from Lord Londesborough’s collec¬ 
tion. This is a very beautiful Mexican Orchid, 
which has been some years in cultivation, but it 
does not appear to have been flowered or exhibited 
before. The pale green glossy pseudo-bulbs are 
ovate and somewhat flattened or two-edged, and are 
borne upon a creeping rhizome. The bulbs are ap¬ 
parently one-leaved, and the younger ones are 
sheathed at the base with the membraneous remains 
of the radical leaves. The plant exhibited had a 
drooping, simple spike nearly a yard in length, bear¬ 
ing about a dozen flowers and buds. The sepals' 
and petals are three-quarter inch in length, with 
crisped margins, the colour being a greenish-yellow, 
spotted with chocolate-brown. The lip is over one 
inch broad, kidney-shaped, and of a clear bright 
yellow colour. Mr. Denning informs us that the 
plant is deciduous in habit, and grows Well along 
with Zygopetalums, Lycastes, and Cypripedium 
insigne ; apart, therefore, from its beauty, which is 
of the O. Rogersi and 0. Marshallianum order, it 
has the merit of being easily grown, and we hope to 
give a coloured plate of it in due time. Messrs. 
Yeitch and Sons showed a select collection of flower¬ 
ing Orchids, among which were the new purple-spotted 
Odontoglossum cirrhosum, Cypripedium Crossianum, 
one of the hybrids raised by Mr. Cross at Melchet 
Court; a new Cymbidium, supposed to be C. Parishi ; 
the chaste, white-flowered Lycaste Skinneri alba, 
Lselia albida, Masdevallia Candida, a well-flowered 
Odontoglossum Rossi majus, Cypripedium Maulei, the 
ever-flowering and attractive Cypripedium Sedeni, 
and a finely-flowered specimen of Lselia anceps. A 
plant of Masdevallia Barlaeana, a kind in the way of 
M. amabilisj but broader in the sepals, was also shown, 
as was likewise Lselia marginata, the latter furnished 
with a large bright lilac-crimson-lipped flower. A 
remarkably well-grown and profusely-flowered group 
of about thirty Orchids came from Sir Trevor Law¬ 
rence, Burford Lodge, Dorking. Among these we 
noted Cypi'ipedium insigne with about thirty flowers, 
Odontoglossum Insleayi leopardinum with twelve 
spikes, and two specimens of Calanthe Yeitchi, each 
bearing four spikes over a yard in length, the indivi¬ 
dual flowers being large, and of a bright rosy carmine 
or magenta colour. Dendrobium primulinum gigan- 
teum, in the same collection, bore two spikes a yard 
in length, one of which was furnished with twenty- 
two lilac creamy-white lipped flowers. A plant of 
Masdevallia Yeitchi bore twelve large and richly- 
coloured flowers, and a specimen of Trichopilia fra- 
grans in vigorous health had two spikes of snow-white 
golden-eyed blossoms, having a perfume somewhat 
like that of the Poet’s Narcissus ; Sophronitis grandi- 
flora, the most brilliant, and at the same time one of 
of the smallest of all winter-flowering Orchids, was 
represented by two plants— one being of the normal 
