•January 17, 1839. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
41 
ingthe Philippine Islands, the Malayan Archipelago and Peninsula, 
up to Burma and Nepal in one direction, and Hong Kong in another 
on the Asiatic Continent. All from this region, except a few of 
the more northern, require under cultivation a high temperature 
and a constant supply of moisture both in the atmosphere and at 
the roots; in fact they have no season of rest as compared with 
other Orchids, because having no pseudo-bulbs a ripening period 
is not required, and attempts at treating them in this way have 
often resulted in the loss of the plants. 
It would be impossible in this paper to refer to all the species 
from the Old World tropics, but a few of them merit a passing note. 
Two from Borneo are of especial importance, the first, C. Stonei 
platytfenium. for its beauty, rarity, and consequently" high value ; 
the second, C. Lawrencianum, for its bold characters, good con¬ 
stitution, and genuine usefulness. The first was imported from 
Sarawak in 18G3 with 'plants of the ordinary C. Stonei, and from 
that one specimen all the examples now to be found in Orchid 
collections have been derived. It has never been introduced since, 
and of course it is possible that the plant thus accidentally obtained 
was a solitary seedling variation, in which the petals had become 
greatly" enlarged. The other, C. Lawrencianum, was found by Mr. 
P. AY. Burbidge in 1878 in North Borneo, so that it has barely had 
ten years in England, yet it has become one of the most popular 
owing to the handsome appearance of the flowers, which is largely 
due to the broad rounded and boldly striped dorsal sepal. 
Another pair of species from the Old World are beautiful, and 
both are interesting for a similar circumstance—namely, they have 
only been once found in a wild state, their habitat is unknown, and 
all the cultivated plants have been derived from these original 
introductions. C. Fairrieanum (fig. 6), one of these, has hand¬ 
somely marked flowers, the dorsal sepal being veined and reticulated 
with purple on a light ground, but as it is of somewhat weakly 
habit it is much scarcer than the other, C. superbiens (C. Yeitchi) 
(fig. 7), though both have been in this country about the same 
length of time—namely, thirty years. 0 superbiens has a pecu¬ 
liarly elegant flower, the dorsal sepal streaked with green, the 
petals having numerous dark spots. Both these plants have been 
repeatedly searched for in vain, and possibly they are representa¬ 
tives of those, which in a wild state are becoming extinct. 
One group of Asiatic Cypripediums supplies several very interest¬ 
ing species or variations —namely, that comprising C. concolor, 
C. Godefroyae, C. bellatulum (fig. 8), and C. niveum, which furnish 
a chain of gradations, of which the first and last-named are the two 
extremes, and seem to point to a common origin. Somewhat 
curiously, too, in distribution C. concolor is the most northern and 
C. niveum the most southern on the Malay peninsula, C. Godefroyae 
being found at an intermediate situation, and C. bellatulum is 
probably from a similar locality, though its introducers have not 
recorded its habitat. From the yellow C. concolor to the white 
C. niveum numberless gradations have been introduced, some with a 
yellow ground colour, others with a pure white base, the spots and 
blotches differing as much in size, number, and depth of colour. 
C. bellatulum is one of the most beautiful of these intermediate 
forms, but the whole series presents an interesting study, quite 
apart from the horticultural value of the plants. 
In the majority of the Old World Cypripediums the petals are 
but little larger than the sepals, or at least not exceeding 3 or 
4 inches, but in C. Parishi, C. philippinense, and a recent intro¬ 
duction, C. Sanderianum, there is a remarkable elongation of the 
petals, which become in the last-named as much as 2 feet in length, 
narrow, ribbon-like, and approaching closely to the form of those 
in a geographically widely separated group, the Selenipedium 
species of South America. It is for this reason they are men¬ 
tioned here as constituting a kind of connecting link in the 
chain of species in the Old and New Worlds. The Seleni¬ 
pedium group, which has been considered by some authorities 
as a distinct genus, is mainly confined to the northern and 
western sides of South America, from Guiana to Costa Rica, 
and thence southwards through Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. 
They are distinguished from the Old World Cypripediums by 
the ovaries being three-celled, bearing the seeds at the centre 
instead of on the walls of the one-celled ovary, as in the true 
Cypripediums. The best known of these is C. caudatum, which, 
like C. Sanderianum just mentioned, has long narrow petals, which 
have been known to reach the length of 30 inches, frequently 
growing after the expansion of the flower at the rate of 2 inches a 
day until their full length has been reached. This peculiarity was 
first observed by Mrs. Lawrence, the mother of Sir Trevor Lawrence, 
Bart., and something of a similar character has since been noted in 
C. caricinum, one of the same section, and the singular Urope- 
dium Lindeni. The last-named has been considered as a distinct 
genus, but is now ranked as an abnormal variety of C. caudatum, in 
which the lip, instead of being pouched like that of other Cypri¬ 
pediums, is narrow and elongated like the petals of the assumed 
parent, there is also a third anther on the column. Altogether it is 
structurally a most interesting plant. C. Schlimi, already inci¬ 
dentally noted, is another of the same group with C. longifoliom 
and C. Lindleyanum. 
The terrestrial herbaceous species with tuberous roots have 
their principal home in North America, but some are found in 
Japan, while in our own country and several parts of Europe the 
pretty little C. Calceolus, described by the older writers as Calceolus- 
Marias, is a representative of the same group, though it is now- 
becoming very scarce in England, being confined to a few districts 
in the northern counties, and even there it is rarely found, 
and in several of the “ British Floras ” it is recorded as nearly" 
extinct. It is rather more plentiful in some parts of northern 
Europe, and as it extends through northern Asia it may bc- 
FIG. 8.—CYPHIPEDIUM BELLATULUM, 
regarded either as an escape from the North American flora 
or as representing a much wider distribution of the terrestrial 
Cypripediums. 
The actual habitats of Cypripediums vary greatly. Some- 
species are found upon trees, others on limestone rocks, and still 
others (some of the hardy species) in or near swamps ; but taking 
the family generally none is fitted for the block-system of culture : 
adopted for epiphytal Orchids. Good peat and sphagnum suit the 
tropical species with the exception of a few that require a little 
limestone, while the terrestrial species prefer a light compost of' 
leaf soil and loam, with lime added and a drier situation for 
C. Calceolus. 
HYBRIDS. 
My notes have been extended too far to permit much being: 
said about the hybrids, interesting as theyqare. Some of the most 
