Plate 69 . 
THE LARGE-ELQWERED DISA. 
Disci grandiflora. 
The extremely beautiful Orchid which Mr. Andrews has so 
faithfully portrayed, is one of which it was said, in a work of 
no slight authority, published not very long since, “ It has 
hitherto baffled the skill of English cultivators,” a statement 
which, owing to the ability and perseverance of one gentleman, 
is now no longer applicable to it, as thousands who visited the 
Exhibition of the Royal Horticultural Society this season have 
been enabled to testify. The merit of overcoming the difficulty 
is due entirely to Charles Leach, Esq., of King’s Hoad, Clapham 
Park, to whose courtesy we are indebted for our Plate, permis¬ 
sion to make a drawing of it in his greenhouse having been in 
the kindest manner granted to our artist. 
Few lovers of flowers who had correspondents at the Cape of 
Good Hope, but received, amongst their Brunsvigias, Vallotas, 
and what are called Cape bulbs in general, roots of Disci gran - 
diflora , and the opinion was naturally formed that, like other 
bulbs, it had its season of rest, consequently it was allowed to 
grow for a time, and then dried off, never, it was found, to revive 
again. Mr. Leach had in a similar way oftentimes received it, 
and as often lost it: but he noticed, some two or three years 
ago, that one plant of it retained its freshness till far on towards 
the winter, and it then occurred to him that as it was a bog 
plant, possibly it did not dry up at all;* he consequently kept 
it watered, and the result has been that plants which we our¬ 
selves saw, had, in the course of fifteen months, from a very 
small piece, completely filled a large pan, and thrown up spikes 
of bloom. The same course of treatment was adopted, with 
slight modifications, by Herr Schiller, of Hamburg, and we be¬ 
lieve that in the course of time it will not only be grown in 
