April 28, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
547 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
By John Fraser, F.L.S., Kew. 
Awards according to merit were granted to the 
undermentioned Orchids at a meeting of the Royal 
Horticultural Society on the loth inst. 
Odonloglossum Andersonianum 
Crawshay’s var. 
The sepals of this handsome variety are lanceolate, 
white, shaded with rose on the back, and having two 
arge, brownish-purple blotches on the centre. The 
petals are shallowly toothed with smaller and more 
numerous brownish-purple blotches from above the 
middle of the base. The lip is yellow at the base 
and white upwards, with a large reddish-brown 
blotch in front of the crest. 
Aj ide Hughii, Nov. sp. 
The flowers of this fragrant species are borne in a 
drooping raceme. The sepals are obovate, slightly 
incurved and white, shaded with light purple. The 
petals are similar in form but purple, spotted with 
deep purple. The lip is ovate, tapering to the base, 
and of a deep purple, fading towards the edges. 
Award of Merit. Exhibited by Messrs. Hugh Low 
& Co., Clapton. 
Dendroblum Joh nn's. 
This North Australian species has rather small but 
pretty flowers. The sepals are linear, twisted, and 
greenish-yellow, with brown lines. The petals are 
broader and olive-brown, but otherwise similar. The 
short, rhomboid lip is yellow, with an elevated 
darker crest. Botanical Certificate. Exhibited by 
S. G. Lutwyche, Esq. (gardener, Mr. T. Paterson), 
Oakfield, Eden Park, Beckenham. 
Masdevallia torta. 
The tube of this curious and rare species is brown¬ 
ish-yellow, striated with purple. The upper sepal is 
short, the lateral ones obliquely triangular, and all 
are brownish-yellow, lined with brown veins. 
Botanical Certificate. Exhibited by Mr. F. W. 
Moore, Curator, Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. 
Satyrium coriifolium. 
Nearly fifty species of this genus are known to 
science, all being terrestrial with tuberous roots. 
The leaves of the plant under notice are oblong- 
lanceolate and somewhat leathery in texture. The 
linear sepals and petals are yellow, and the large 
hooded lip darker. The flowers are borne in an 
erect raceme. Botanical Certificate. Exhibited by 
Mr. F. W. Moore. 
Satyrium princeps. 
Like the last, this has a solitary upright raceme; 
but the flowers are of a deep red externally and 
rosy-red internally. Botanical Certificate. Exhibited 
by Mr. F. W. Moore. 
Dendrobium capillipes. 
The pseudo bulbs of this beautiful little Dendrobe 
are fusiform and 2 in. to 5 in. long. The flowers are 
borne singly or in pairs on a slender peduncle from 
near the top of the pseudo-bulbs. The sepals are 
narrowly oblong and yellow. The petals are obovate 
and darker. The lip is the largest organ, and is 
transversely oblong or reniform, and yellow with an 
orange claw. Award of Merit. Exhibitor, Sir 
Trevor Lawrence, Bart. 
Leptotes bicolor. 
As a basket Orchid this is a gem, though not very 
large. The leaves are nearly cylindrical, fleshy and 
almost take the place of the pseudo-bulbs, which are 
very small. The sepals and petals are white, but a 
large purple blotch runs along the centre of the lip, 
nearly covering it. Botanical Certificate. Exhibitor, 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart. 
Brassia Lawrencean •. 
For description of this bold and handsome species 
see p. 515. First-class Certificate. Exhibited by 
R. I. Measures, Esq. (gardener, Mr. Hy. Chapman), 
Cambridge Lodge, Camberwell. 
Cypripedium Mastersianum. 
The upper sepal of this Cypripedium is triangular, 
concave, and green, with a creamy-yellow edge. The 
petals are spreading and of a shining brown, with 
black dots near the upper edge. The lip is large, 
oblong, spreading, and of a shining brown. Award 
of Merit. Exhibited by R. 1 . Measures, Esq. 
Masdevallia Simula. 
This must be included amongst the pigmies of the race, 
for the leaves (the tallest part of the plant) are only 
2 in. to 2j in. long, linear-oblanceolate, channelled, 
leathery, and bronzy-green. The flowers are pro¬ 
duced in great abundance amongst the bases of the 
leaves, and have yellow sepals densely spotted with 
purple, the spots on the upper one being larger and 
more conspicuous than on the others. Botanical 
Certificate. Exhibitor, R. 1 . Measures, Esq. 
Pleurothalli j ornata. 
This plant is equally dwarf as Masdevallia Simula, 
but the leaves are shorter and the flower stalks carried 
above them. The sepals are densely spotted with 
purple, almost covering the pale yellow ground, and 
they are adorned with curious, drooping, club-shaped, 
white fringes at the edges. Botanical Certificate. 
Exhibitoii? R. 1 . Measures, Esq. 
Abnormal Cymbldlum Lowlanum. 
A curious case of malformation occurred upon a 
large plant of C. Lowianum in the nursery of Mr. 
P. McArthur, London Nursery, 4, Maida Vale, 
London. Four racemes bore in the aggregate 
forty flowers of a good type. The lower half of the 
lip was creamy yellow, and the rest bright yellow, 
with exception of a rich maroon blotch at the apex. 
One of the flowers evidently consisted of two com¬ 
pletely joined together. The upper sepal was broad, 
and consisted of two connate almost to the apex. 
There were also three petals and two lips, nearly 
of equal size and form. The lateral lobe of one of 
the lips, owing to its peculiar position, had pulled out 
the pollinia which adhered by the gland as if they 
naturally grew there. The column was also twice 
as wide as usual, so that taking all things together, 
there was evidence of two flowers, but remarkably 
closely amalgamated together. 
Orchids at Chel ea. 
When visiting the Orchid houses of Messrs. J. 
Veitch and Sons, on a recent occasion, there were 
many interesting things in the Orchid houses 
independently of a good display of the more popular 
and plentiful subjects. The hybrid Cymbidium 
eburneo-Lowianum and C. Lowianum concolor 
formed a fine contrast to the typical C. Lowianum. 
There are several varieties of Epidendrum Endreso- 
Wallisii, and we noted a fine one with dark purple 
sepals and petals. Maxillaria Sanderiana is a bold 
thing in a collection on account of its massive 
flowers. Hybrid Dendrobiums and Hybrid Cypri- 
pediums were very plentiful, and the latter are never 
out of bloom. In the Cattleya house, C. Mendelii, 
C. Trianae and C. T. Schroderae in a great variety 
of colouring were seasonable. There were also 
numerous flowering plants of C. Lawrenceana of the 
darkest and best type. The lip of the bigeneric 
Laelio-Cattleya Pallas is certainly a grand bit of 
colour, and well illustrates the value of the art of the 
hybridist. On the top of the central stage of this 
same house was a magnificent piece of Cyrtopodium 
punctatum in a large basket. The leading stems were 
5 ft. long and five very strong flower stems were 
pushing up so that by the time the flowers are ex¬ 
panded the whole must form an imposing floral 
spectacle. In another house a piece of Miltonia 
Warsewiczii, bearing a branched panicle of bloom 
2ft. long, was the finest we had seen of the kind. In 
the cool houses was a fine display of Odontoglossums 
of all the more important and useful kinds in season- 
Several heavily blotched varieties of O. crispumwere 
very handsome. Others were O. Pescatorei, O. 
Edwardi, O. cirrosum, O. odoratura, with its paler 
forms, named O. o. gloriosum, O. Rossii aspersum 
with its yellow petals and lip, O. triumphans and O. 
juteo purpureum. The variation in O. triumphans was 
considerable, and while all had the glossy character¬ 
istic of the flowers, some were marked with unusually 
dark blotches. The same may be said of O. luteo. 
purpureum of which we noticed some well marked 
forms of O. luteo-purpureum sceptrum. The flowers 
of O. Harryanum were large and richly coloured ; 
and O. hastilabium had flower scapes 4 ft. long. 
The long twining stems and dark flowers of Oncidium 
serratum made themselves very noticeable objects. 
The species belongs to the same type as O. macran- 
thum. Suspended from the roof in a basket was a 
beautiful piece of Cochlioda vulcanicum grandiflorum ^ 
with its rich rosy purple flowers. Amongst the 
numerous plants of Miltonia vexillaria in bloom were 
several having richly coloured flowers. 
At Maida Vale. 
Some interesting varieties of popular Orchids have 
been flowering during the last few weeks in the 
nursery of Mr. P. McArthur, 4, Maida Vale. A 
recently imported piece of Cypripedium Chamber, 
lainianum giganteum measures 4 in. across the petals 
with a lip :} in. long. D. Wardianum album with 
its pure white sepals and petals measures 3 in. across 
the latter. A beautifully marked flower named 
Odontoglossum Pescatorei splendens, with dark purple 
blotches, would run to 2j in. from tip to tip of the 
petals. A dark and richly coloured variety of Cypri¬ 
pedium Haynaldianum named superbum, giving great 
promise while in bud, has bloomed for the first time, 
realising the best anticipations, for it is a richly 
coloured variety measuring in. across the petals, 
which are about | in. wide ; the lip is 2in. long. C. 
Exul seems increasing in size since the first 
introductions bloomed, and measures 4J in. across the 
petals. The ground colour of C. E. aureum is of a 
rich yellow with a shiny lustre, and the greenish 
hue of the upper sepal is greatly toned down by it. 
-. t - 
©I^aningB fcom fh^ Porlh 
nf Science. 
The Vitality of Seeds and Bulbs. —It is 
astonishing with what persistency a story will be 
repeated when once it has been made, notwith¬ 
standing the discredit which the best naturalists, 
botanists and physiologists can place upon it. The 
vitality of seeds and the duration of life are always 
popular subjects with one class of the community 
or another, but the proof is generally, if not always, 
far from clear when a period of 2,000 years is in 
question. A contemporary states that when Lord 
Lindsay was travelling amongst the pyramids of 
Egypt he accidentally came across a mummy, the 
inscription upon which proved that it was 2,000 
years old at least. In the hand of this mummy 
he found a root, described in the next line as a bulb, 
and desiring to know how long vegetable life would 
last, he planted the precious relic, and to his 
surprise and joy it blossomed into a beautiful flower 
in the course of a few weeks. Is not this another 
version of the tale of the mummy wheat ? Never¬ 
theless it suggested to the American poetess, Mrs. 
S. H. Bradford, a theme for some verses entitled 
"The Resurrection." She ignores all technical 
terms, and coolly states that a seed was placed in 
the mummy's hand 2,000 years ago, and that Lord 
Lindsay's find was a seed. Evidently it was not 
wheat this time, otherwise it would not have burst 
into a glorious flower. 
More recent Evidence. —Experiments have 
been made on purpose to test the longevity of seeds, 
by preserving a large number of kinds, but ten 
years was long enough to kill the largest 
proportion of them. Few lived for fifteen 
years and very few retained their vitality for twenty 
years. Seeds are usually kept under dry conditions, 
but there is reason to believe that when seeds are 
buried in the soil under natural conditions, they 
retain their vitality much longer. Now and again 
when an old pasture has been ploughed up, a wood 
cut down so as to expose the surface of the soil to 
the full influence of the sun, or a railway cutting has 
been made, a new vegetation springs up, often 
containing plants which were unknown to the field 
or district before. How long these seeds might 
have lain it would be difficult to determine. When 
buried so deeply that the air or oxygen has little 
influence upon them, seeds retain their vitality for 
a longer period than when exposed, or in other 
words they live more slowly, for that is really what 
takes place. A certain amount of air is at all times 
necessary for the life of the seed, otherwise the 
protoplasm could not maintain its vitality. It is 
really a case of greater or less prolonged existence, 
under which the seed is wasting its substance in 
order to retain its life, while the conditions are 
unfavourable to its sprouting and the putting forth 
fresh leaves in which alone new material is formed 
under the influence of sunlight. It follows then 
that, in course of time, the longest lived seeds must 
waste the whole of their reserved materials and 
inevitably die. Grains of wheat found in an old 
granary dating back to the times of the Romans 
probably were discovered in this country, but were 
simply in a carbonised state as if they had been 
burnt. This is the result of oxidation, by the 
absorption of oxygen for the purpose of breathing or 
respiration, as we should say. In other words, it is 
a case of slow combustion to which all seeds are 
inevitably exposed. No physiologist, then, believes 
that seeds could resist this action for 2,000 years. 
