Jane II, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
465 
of visitors. A full prize list is published in the Journal\ des 
Orchkites for June Ist. _ 
•• M. A. G-odefroy-Lebeuf gives in the last issue of L'OrcJddophile 
to hand an excellent coloured plate of Odontoglossum Lerojanum, 
a hybrid raised at Baron E. de Rothschild’s establishment at 
Armainvilliers from a cross between Odontoglossum crispum and 
O. luteo-purpureum. M. Godefroy makes some apology for 
giving “ a new name ” to a plant which, judging by the parents 
assigned by Reichenbach to the supposed natural hybrid 0. 
Wiickeanum, is of the same origin. There are, however, sufficient 
differences to afford more warrant for a distinctive name in such 
an exceptional case than in many others that could be mentioned. 
He has, however, overlooked the fact that the plant was first 
described and the name applied in the Journal of Horticulture^ 
j). 445, May 29th, 1890, in the following note :—• 
“ Hybrid Orchids are now numerous in some of the more popular 
and best known genera, but the artificial production of hybrid 
Odontoglossums has hitherto proved too much for the skill of 
‘Orchid cultivators in this country. Seed has been obtained and 
plants even have been raised, but they have either died or have 
failed up to the present to produce flowers. A remarkable excep¬ 
tion in France is worthy of notice, however, and will always 
possess considerable historical interest as the first hybrid resulting 
from artificial crossing amongst the Odontoglossums. This is in 
the collection of Orchids formed by the Baron Edmond de Roth¬ 
schild a few miles from Paris on the Strasburg line. It was 
secured from a cross effected about five and a half years ago 
between O. crispum and O. luteo-purpureum, the former being the 
seed parent. The seeds were sown when ripe, and several plants 
were raised, which have steadily progressed until the present year, 
when the most advanced produced a raceme of seven flowei’s early 
in May, and these are now fully expanded, the characters indicating 
a true combination of the two species named. The pseudo-bulbs 
are rounder than those of O. crispum and more like O. luteo- 
purpureum, the larger being 1|- inch in diameter and depth and 
flattened, but the other is more conical in form. The leaves are 
10 to 12 inches long, and inch broad, stiff, and bright green. 
The flowers are 3^ inches across from tip to tip of the petals, and 
.2 inches from the tip of the upper sepal to the margin of the lip. 
The sepals and petals are nearly equal, the latter slightly broader ; 
the sepals of a pale yellowish ground tint, most strongly marked 
at the tips ; the petals are whiter, and perhaps will become still 
more pure. The sepals have each three broad reddish brown bars, 
these being more clearly defined in the upper one than the two 
dower. The petals are undulated at the margin, with one large 
blotch in the centre, two smaller rounded ones at the side, and a 
few still smaller near the centre of the base. The lip is three- 
quarters of an inch in diameter, somewhat like 0. luteo-purpureum 
in shape, fringed at the edge, white, with one large reddish blotch, 
and a deeply divided yellow crest at the base on a reddish ground. 
In general appearance the flowers are very distinct, the sepals and 
petals being slightly curved forwards. Baron Edmond de Roth¬ 
schild specially desires the plant to bear the name of his gardener, 
M. Leroy.” _ 
Since this note was written Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons have 
succeeded in raising and flowering a seedling Odontoglossum of 
the O. excellens type from a cross between 0. triumphans and 
O. Pescatorei. This plant was shown at the Temple and again at 
the R.H.S. meeting last Tuesday, when it excited much interest. 
The flower indicates a preponderance of 0. triumphans characters, in 
which respect it differs from several other forms of 0, excellens, 
dn which the 0. Pescatorei form is most marked. 
The Orchid-growing nurseries in and around London are 
extremely gay just now. Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons and Mr. W. 
Bull at Chelsea ; Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son at Upper 
Holloway ; Sander & Co., St. Albans ; Low & Co., Clapton, with 
■others, have brilliant floral displays that show the decorative value 
of these plants to perfection._ 
New Orchids.—L^lia Arnoldiana. —At the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society’s meeting on Tuesday, a special class was provided 
for seedling Orchids, and though only two exhibits were entered 
these were of such exceptional merit that they are well worthy of 
descriptive paragraphs. Lielia hybrida Arnoldiana, from Messrs. 
F. Sander & Co., St. Albans, was awarded a silver-gilt Flora medal, 
togeiher with a first-class certificate, and double honours of the 
same value have never been secured by a new Orchid before. It 
is the result of a cross between Laelia purpurata and a variety of 
Cattleya labiata, the seed having been sown in 1881, so that the 
plant shown with five pseudo-bulbs and leaves of different sizes is 
just ten years old, not too long to wait for such a handsome Orchid. 
Cattleya labiata presents an astonishing range of variation, and it 
is therefore not surprising that though hybrids between that type 
and Ltelia purpurata have been previously obtained, as in the 
superb Lselias bella and callistoglossa, yet the distinctions are 
strongly marked in all the progeny hitherto flowered, and the grand 
addition now under notice is a success of a remarkable character. 
L. UYBRiDA Arnoldiana appears to be of vigorous habit, the 
narrow fusiform pseudo-bulbs being G to 8 inches long, the leaves 
about 12 inches long, 2^ inches across, of very stout and bright 
shining green. The flowers exceed 7 inches in diameter, and have 
a peculiarly graceful outline and pose ; the sepals are narrowly 
lanceolate, of a delicate evenly diffused rosy purple hue, regularly 
spreading; the petals are of similar colour, broader, drooping, or 
decurved at the tips, the margin undulated, and slightly darker 
veins in the centre. The lip is very handsome, the broad rounded 
central lobe nearly 3 inches in diameter, of an intensely rich 
magenta crimson, with a few still darker veins, and a golden bronzo 
tinge in the throat. The whole aspect of the flower is very striking, 
and the hybrid must be assigned a place amongst the finest yet raised. 
Disa Veitciii. —A silver Flora medal and a first-class certificate 
were unanimously awarded to Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons’ beautiful 
new Disa (fig. 89), which possesses the especial interest of being the 
first hybrid in the genus that has flowered. It was obtained 
from a cross between D. racemosa and D. grandiflora, and shows 
a clearly discerned combination of the characters of the two 
parents. D. racemosa was figured and described in this Journal, 
page 221, September 6th, 1888, and is remarkable for its free 
growth, profuse floweriog, and its losy crimson or purple hue. 
D. grandiflora is too well known to need description. In habit 
