February 2, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
355 
leucochilum, with flower scapes 3 ft. to 4 ft. long, and 
Miltonia euneata 18 ins. long. In another small house 
alongside of this was a beautiful variety of Odonto- 
glossum Pescatorei, with numerous violet spots. A 
good form of the sweet-scented 0. Sanderiana, grown 
in a basket, is also flowering freely ; its flowers are 
very much larger than those of 0. constrictum. A 
handsome plant of 0. blandum, also grown in a basket, 
can hardly fail to attract the onlooker as one of the 
gems of the genus. The sepals and petals are spotted 
with brown, and the lip with purple on a white ground. 
The apex of the latter organ is curiously fringed or 
toothed. Amongst the pieces of 0. gloriosum in 
flower in a third cool house are some forms wherein the 
ground colour (which is usually of a creamy tint), is of 
a fine deep yellow. Here also 0. crispum and 0. 
luteo-purpureum are grown in considerable quantity. 
The most popular Masdevallia at this dull season is 
M. tovarensis, with pure white flowers. 
Dendrobiumsare extensively grown, one of the largest 
or widest houses being devoted to their accommodation. 
Many cultivators complain of the difficulty of growing 
D. Palconeri satisfactorily ; but a large quantity of it is 
grown here in small baskets hung up near the glass, 
and make a good growth, which gets well ripened, 
and flowers well. It is watered chiefly by means 
of the hose pipe. D. cretaceum, flowering now, is 
also suspended in baskets, as is a remarkable variety 
of D. primulinum, named D. p. giganteum, with 
stems of unusual thickness even for this species. A 
large variety of D. japonicum is grown in pots, and a 
larger importation even of D. formosum giganteunn 
D. Jamesianum, D. Farmeri, and the true D. 
Brymerianum are grown in teak baskets hung up to 
the roof. There can be no doubt of the last named 
being the best variety, as the stems are from 2 ft. to 
3 ft. high. Some fine varieties of D. nobile come into 
flower from time to time, as well as of L). Y T ardianum. 
A large collection of Cypripediums is grown in a low 
and narrow span-roofed house, where they receive very 
favourable treatment with regard to light. Specially 
noticeable is a large batch of small plants of C. 
caudatum in very healthy condition, fully established, 
and ready to be added to anyone’s collection. What 
appears to be a very curious sport of C. Sedeni occurs 
in the collection. The tips of the petals are very 
deeply coloured, while the lip is irregularly splashed 
and blotched with the same colour. Amongst the 
species are C. Lawrencianum, C. venustum pardinum, 
C. hirsutissimum, C. Yeitchii, C. villosum, C. Spicer- 
ianum, C. Elliottianum, C. Godefroyfe, C. concolor, and 
C. Curtisii with its foliage beautifully tesselated with 
deep green. There are also healthy plants of a large 
number of hybrids, including C. Io, C. almum, C. 
selligerum rnajus, C. Harrisonianum, and others. 
Popular and useful old kinds now flowering are 
Ccelogyne cristata and Lycaste Skinneri, so well known 
as to need no description. Coelogyne Parishi is b}' no 
means a common Orchid, however, but is an exceed- 
ingty curious one. The pseudo-bulbs are from 3 ins. to 
6 ins. long, and are bluntly four-angled, while the 
flowers resemble those of the curious C. pandurata in 
miniature. The colours are similar, and the disk of 
the lip is furnished with singular-looking black spots, 
similar to those of its congener. A batch of Goodyera 
japoniea, in pots, forms very pretty tufts, having its 
leaves beautifully marbled with silvery grey on a deep 
green ground. A batch of Disa grandiflora, recently 
imported, is just commencing to make good rosettes of 
leaves. A similar one of Disa racemosa is rather more 
advanced, and already the two can be distinguished by 
a different shade of green in the foliage. When this 
species becomes better known, it can hardly fail to 
meet with popular favour, for it is really a pretty 
species, with racemes of rosy purple flowers. 
--*=?=<«-- 
CYPRIPEDIUMS. 
( Concluded from p. 339 .) 
In growth and habit the members of this genus fall 
into two very distinct groups. First, those with short 
stems, the leaves arranged in a two-ranked manner, 
with no pseudo-bulbs or tubers, but simply the ordinary 
fleshy roots, these comprising all the tropical species 
cultivated under glass. Secondly, those with taller 
herbaceous stems and tuberous roots, including the 
natives of North America and Europe, hardy in this 
country. Necessarily, these require very different 
cultural treatment, and the plants possess very different 
garden value ; but though the heat-loving species with 
their varieties and hybrids are so much more numerous 
and highly prized by amateurs, some of the hardy 
species, especially C. spectabile, when in suitable 
situations out of doors, thriving and flowering freely, 
are no mean rivals in floral beauty. 
The usefulness of many Cypripediums has been 
amply proved by cultivators, not so much by reason of 
the colour of the flowers, as by their duration, which 
is remarkable in some like C. insigne. Flowers of this 
species cut and placed in water will last for three weeks 
or more in a warm room, while on the other plants 
they last even longer. Some also are almost constantly 
in flower, C. Sedeni being a notable instance of this, 
for strong plants are rarely without flowers at any time 
of the year. The peculiar and sober tints prevailing 
in Cypripediums, together with the strange form of 
their flowers, render them rather unfit for arranging 
with other flowers ; but alone, or with suitable foliage, 
they have a good effect. The colours also present a 
series of quiet harmonies in shades of brown, green, 
and purplish crimson, the tints becoming much 
brighter, with a preponderance of rose, in C. spectabile, 
amongst the hardy species, and in the South American 
or Selenipedium group, with its hybrids, such as 
C. Sedeni. 
Cypripediums at Home. 
From tropical humid Borneo to the colder drier regions 
of the northern United States and of Europe, repre¬ 
sentatives of the Cypripedium family are found 
scattered here and there, not in great quantities 
anywhere, and some of them strangely local in their 
distribution. But their chief home is in eastern 
tropical Asia, comprising the Philippine Islands, the 
Malayan Archipelago and Peninsula, up to Burmah and 
Nepal in one direction, and Hong KoDg 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 platyteenium, 
for its beauty, rarity, and consequently high value ; 
the second, C. Lawrenceanum, for its bold characters, 
good constitution, and genuine usefulness. The first 
was imported from Sarawak in 1863 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 impossible that the plant thus 
accidentally obtained was a solitary seedling variation, 
in which the petals had become greatly enlarged. The 
other, C. Lawrenceanum, was found by Mr. F. W. 
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 from 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. Fairieanum, one of these, 
has handsomely-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. Yeitchii), 
though both have been in this country about the same 
length of time—namely, thirty years. C. superbiens 
has a peculiarly elegant flower, the dorsal sepals 
streaked with green, the petals having numerous dark 
spots. Both these plants have been repeatedly 
searched for in vain, and possibly they are repre¬ 
sentatives of those, which in a wild state are becoming 
extinct. 
One group of Asiatic Cypripediums supplies several 
very interesting species or variations—namely, that 
comprising C. concolor, C. Godefroyse, C. bellatulum, 
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. Godefroyfe being found at an in¬ 
termediate 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 inter¬ 
mediate 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 ins. or 4 ins., but in C. Parishi, C. philip- 
pinense, and a recent introduction, C. Sanderianum, 
there is a remarkable elongation of the petals, which 
become in the last-named as much as 2 ft. 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 that they are mentioned here as con¬ 
stituting a kind of connecting link in the chain of 
species in the Old and New Worlds. The Selenipedium 
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 Columbia, 
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 Cypri¬ 
pediums. 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 ins., frequently growing after the expansion 
of the flower at the rate of 2 ins. 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 Uropedium 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 Cypripediums, 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. Schlimii, 
already incidentally noted, is another of the same 
group with C. longifolium 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 Marine—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 be 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 epi¬ 
phytal 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 they are. 
Some of the most beautiful and valuable members of 
the family have been produced by artificial cross¬ 
fertilisation, and many curious facts have been observed. 
Crosses have been readily obtained between the Old 
World species, also between the Selenip'edia, but it has 
been found more difficult to cross species of these two 
groups, and though seed has been secured and seedlings 
raised, none have yet flowered to prove whether a 
genuine cross had been effected. One of the best known 
and most useful hybrids yet raised is C. Sedeni, from 
C. Schlimii and C. longifolium, which has become a 
garden plant of inestimable value. There are many 
others of even greater beauty, which must, however, 
long continue scarce, because they are of slow increase. 
It would take too long to deal with the hybrids in these 
notes, and I can only refer those who wish for more 
information upon the matter, as well as upon Cypri¬ 
pediums generally, to Messrs. Yeitch’s admirable 
Monograph , containing a record of their experiments in 
hvbridising, and with the fullest descriptive historical 
and cultural notes on the genus that have yet appeared. 
