October 15, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
105 
white. It is a grand plant, well worthy to keep 
company with the best. 
In the general collection, which, vast though it be, 
always maintains the highest point of excellence in its 
specimens, we found in the large Cattleya house, in 
flower, among innumerable promisingly-grown plants 
bearing plenty of flower-sheaths (the great .masses of 
Laelia purpurata being especially fine), plants of the 
useful Cattleya Bowringiana, some bright C. bicolor, 
C. maxima, C. gigas, C. Eldorado, C. Gaskelliana, C. 
intermedia, Laelia praestans, L. Dayana, kc. Cypripe- 
diums include the new C. praestans, which is pretty and 
distinct, with pouch of C. Stonei, sepals like C. Parishii, 
and other features 
of C. laevigatum ; 
C. Curtisii, C. 
Dayanum, C. con- 
color, C. tonsum, 
C. Haynaldianum, 
C. purpuratum, a 
quantity of.C. 
Spicerianum, and 
others. In the 
warm houses, in 
flower, are Den- 
drobium ciliatum ; 
many specimens 
of the noble 
Dendrobium for- 
mosum gigan- 
teum, some with 
a dozen-and-half 
flowers on a plant; 
D. Dearei, D. 
superbiens ; Re- 
nanthera m a t u- 
tina, with dark 
scarlet flowers, 
and which has 
been in bloom over 
six months; 
Vanda Roxburghii 
and V. suavis; 
some beautiful 
Ccelogyne Massan- 
geana; Phalaenop- 
sis violacea and 
P. Schroderi; 
Oncidium Lance- 
anum; the pretty 
white 0. hetero- 
♦phyllum, iErides 
suavis si mum, 
many Oncidium 
Jonesianum, and 
other various and 
beautiful plants. 
The cool houses 
have some very 
robust plants of 
Oncidium ma- 
cranthum, send¬ 
ing up strong 
spikes, and the 
oft - noted rich 
stock well fur- 
nished with 
promises of flower, 
as well as a good 
sprinkling at 
present open ; 
while the structure 
at the entrance to 
the main block of 
Orchid houses is 
well filled with 
flowers of On¬ 
cidium Forbesii, 
0. varicosum, 
0. trulliferum, 0. incurvum, 0. pulvinatum, 0. leuco- 
chilum, 0. tigrinum, 0. crispum, 0. Limminghei, 0. 
preetextum, many graceful 0. ornithorrhynchum, 
0. sarcodes, Calanthe veratrifolia, Mesospinidium vul- 
canicum, Lycaste Skinneri alba, Odontoglossum Ma- 
drense, a grand specimen of 0. Bictonense album, 
O. Insleayii splendens, 0. Uro-Skinneri, the pretty Mas- 
devallia Carderi, and other Masdevallias and Restrepias, 
Epidendrum prismatocarpum, and several handsome 
Miltonias, among which M. Clowesii castanea shows 
up as a rich variety, with handsome flowers, the sepals 
and petals finely barred with chestnut-brown, the lip 
being larger than in the type, and purplish crimson. 
Nepenthes Northiana. 
its colours very brightly. One of its pitchers was over 
7 ins. long, with the mouth 4 ins. by 3 ins.. N. 
bicalcarata is a singular species distinguished by two 
spurs at the hinge of the lid ; and among the old species 
N. Rafflesiana is still a grand pitcher. Over thirty 
distinct species and hybrids are here grown, and among 
them we noted as prominent the distinct N. Veitchii, 
the pretty green N. cylindrica, N. Chelsoni, N. san- 
guinea, N. distillatoria, and N. hybrida. As all are 
grown in a moderate temperature, it is an additional 
pleasure to inspect them on that account. 
The Rhododendrons (Greenhouse), 
Like the Nepenthes, always give a great show at 
Chelsea, where 
they form one of 
the best testi¬ 
monies to the 
utility of the 
hybridist’s work 
as carried out 
there. Every new 
batch seems to 
bring new or in¬ 
tensified colours, 
or larger flowers 
of better form 
than those pre¬ 
ceding them, and 
lately in their 
new R. balsamiae- 
florum and R. b. 
aureum, a new 
race with double 
flowers has been 
introduced by 
Messrs. Veitch, 
which they will, 
in course of time, 
probably run 
through all the 
known colours. 
Among them in 
flower at present, 
we were impressed 
with the beauty of 
Queen Victoria, a 
fine yellow, tinged 
red ; Duchess of 
Connaught and 
Duchess of Edin¬ 
burgh, both rich 
scarlet ; Taylori, 
pink, with white 
tube ; Jasmini- 
florum car- 
minatum, rich 
carmine ; Ama- 
bile, blush or 
creamy white ; 
Maiden’s Blush, 
pale pink; Indian 
yellow ; Princess 
Frederica, creamy 
yellow ; Minerva, 
lemon - yellow ; 
Apollo, salmon- 
red ; President, 
coppery yellow ; 
Princess Beatrice, 
Gloria Mundi, and 
especially a fine 
new yellow, that 
always has six or 
seven lobes to the 
flower, which 
makes it look 
much fuller than 
the other kinds. 
Altogether pass¬ 
ing over the great general plant collection, and turning 
into the new plant houses, we met with many new 
things with which the public have yet to make 
acquaintance. Among those already sent out we 
must mention Begonia John Heal, a cross between 
B. socotrana and a tuberous species, which, with its 
great profusion of rich carmine flowers (among which 
singularly enough not a single female flower has yet 
appeared), and its bright green leaves, forms one of 
the best and most productive of autumn and winter- 
blooming plants we have. Nephrolepis rufescens 
tripinnatifida is a grand new Fern, with wonderfully 
cut plume-like fronds ; Selaginella gracilis, one of the 
The Nepenthes 
At the Royal Exotic Nursery always form one of the 
most interesting sights to be met with in any nursery, 
and we have never seen them better than they now 
are. Some idea may be formed of the appearance of 
the house when it is stated that over 2,000 pitchers, 
many of them of large size, and on new or rare species, 
are borne on the plants suspended from the roof. N. 
Rajah is certainly one of the most extraordinary, its 
singular brownish crimson pitchers being of various 
strange forms and wonderfully coloured, and, as it were, 
varnished in the inside ; one of these we measured was 
nearly 1 ft. from tip of lid to the base of the pitcher, the 
mouth being 6 ins. by 3 ins. N. Curtisii is a gorgeous 
new species, with handsome large pitchers, green 
mottled with dark crimson. N. cincta (see p. 101) is 
also a great beauty, one plant bearing two dozen large 
pitchers, a feat in which it is beaten by many in a long 
row of the fine blood-red N. Mastersiana, which is one 
of the handsomest of the genus, and another of Messrs. 
Veitch’s hybrid triumphs—many of these bear from 
twenty to thirty pitchers, and are really fine objects. 
N. Northiana is distinguished by the richness of its 
colouring, the brightness of the green and crimson on 
the outside being toned down by a whitish wash over 
it, while the inside, invisible unless inspected, shows 
