THE GARDENING WORLD. 
December 8, 1894 . 
230 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
By John Fraser, F.L.S., Kew. 
The undermentioned Orchids were certificated 
according to merit by the Royal Horticultural 
Society on the 27th ult.:— 
Laelio-Cattleya Decia. Nov. hyb. bigen. —The 
seed parent of this bigeneric hybrid was Laelia 
Perrinii and was crossed with the pollen of Cattleya 
Dowiana aurea. The pseudo-bulbs of the plant at 
present are compressed and vary from 1 in. to 6 in. 
in length, The oblong sepals are pink, shaded with 
white. The petals are several shades darker, 
obovate-spathulate and evidently take largely after 
the seed bearer. The lip has a narrow tube very 
closely folded over the column, especially at the 
base, but which becomes more open and funnel- 
shaped at the mouth ; externally it is deep purple. 
The lamina is of a rich crimson-purple ; the throat 
shaded with white and the interior of the tube veined 
with a purer white. First-class Certificate. Ex¬ 
hibited by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea. 
Phaio-Calanthe Sedeniana — This bigeneric 
hybrid was first described by Reichenbach in 1887, 
but under the present name by R. A. Rolfe in the 
following year. The sepals and petals are rather 
broadly oblong, acuminate, and white, tinted with 
pink at the base. The lip is large, rather openly 
and obliquely funnel shaped and shallowly lobed 
along the sides; the central portion is white, but 
all along the sides is a broad, rosy purple border. 
The throat is yellow. First-class Certificate. 
Exhibited by Baron Schroder (gardener, Mr. H. 
Ballantine), The Dell, Egham. 
Cypripedium Triumphans. Nov. hyb. —The 
parents of this hybrid were not stated but C. 
oenanthum superbum would seem to be one of them, 
probably the seed bearer. The upper sepal is 
oblong-elliptic, large, greenish-yellow along the 
centre, and heavily and handsomely spotted with 
black, while the sides are white, heavily shaded with 
purple. The spathulate petals are undulate, 
especially along the upper edge, and the upper 
longitudinal half is crimson-brown, while the cor¬ 
responding lower one is pale brown giving place to 
yellow at the base spotted with brown. The lip also 
is intensely brown, and like all the rest of the flower 
has a rich gloss as if varnished. Award of Merit. 
Exhibited by Mons. Jules Hye, 8, Le Coupure, 
Ghent. 
Cattleya labiata Peeter's var. Nov. var .— 
The sepals and petals of this Cattleya are deep 
purple, conspicuously striped and splashed with 
pale lilac. The lip is crimson-purple with a lilac 
edge, and the deep yellow blotch in the throat is very 
much reduced in size. Award of Merit. Exhibited 
by Mons. A. A. Peeters, Brussels. 
Calanthe Harold. Nov. var. —The sepals in this 
case are pink, much shaded with white. The petals 
on the contrary are of a deep rose-purple. The 
three-lobed lip is rosy-purple, deepening to crimson 
in the throat, and the middle lobe is again bifid. 
Award of Merit. Exhibited by Norman Cookson, 
Esq., Oakwood, Wylam-on-Tyne. 
Odontoglossum Insleayi splendens aurea. 
Nov. var. —The sepals and petals of this variety are 
of a uniform, soft, cinnamon-brown and shining. 
The lamina of the lip is very large, roundly cuneate 
and bright yellow with a few orange-brown spots 
round the sides. From O. I. splendens it seems to 
differ chiefly by the richer yellow of the lip with 
fewer spots round the margin, Award of Merit. 
Exhibited by C. J. Lucas, Esq. (gardener, Mr 
Duncan), Warnham Court, Horsham. 
Cypripedium inslgne Sanderianum, Nov. var. 
—There are now four beautiful varieties of this 
Cypripedium, belonging to the group of which C. i. 
Sanderae was the first to turn up and is considered 
the type. The upper sepal of the variety under 
notice is soft, greenish-yellow on the lower half, and 
entirely unspotted, while the upper half is pure 
white. The petals are slightly paler and without 
markings. The lip is of a clear, shining yellow, and 
entirely without brown shading. The staminode is 
obovate and deep yellow. Award of Merit. Ex¬ 
hibited by Baron Schroder. 
Cypripedium Luoienianum superbum, Nov. 
var. —The upper sepal of this hybrid variety is pale 
greenish-yellow, heavily spotted or blotched with 
purple, and the white margin is tinted with pink. 
The petals are of a shining, brownish-purple on a 
yellow ground, the latter hue showing itself at the 
margins, while the colour is considerably paler to¬ 
wards the base. The lip is purple and shining like 
the other segments of the flower. Award of Merit. 
Exhibited by Thos. Statter, Esq. (gardener, Mr. R. 
Johnson), Stand Hall, Manchester. 
Pleurothallis strupifolia. —This curious species 
comes from Brazil, and was first described by 
Lindley in 1839. The leaves are strap-shaped, very 
leathery, deep dull green above, bronzy beneath, and 
borne singly on slender, terete stems of moderate 
height. The flowers are produced at the top of the 
stems and close to the base of the leaf in solitary or 
twin pendulous spikes. The upper sepal is oblong 
and gray, except at the base, which is purplish, and 
contrasts with the two low'er, which are joined in 
one piece, densely and finely spotted with dark 
purple. l'he petals and lip are very minute. 
Botanical Certificate. Exhibited by Messrs. F. 
Sander & Co., St. Albans. 
Serrastylis modesta, Nov. gen. et sp .—This 
peculiar Orchid was really described by Mr. R. A. 
Rolfe last year, so that the plant shown on the 27th 
ult. is now flowering for the second time. It belongs 
to the tribe Oncidieae, to which it adds a new genus, 
and the flowers are borne in a pendulous raceme 
about 6 in. long. The sepals and petals are linear- 
lanceolate and pale reddish-brown, with a yellow 
edge. The lip is three-lobed, the lateral lobes being 
broad, rounded, nearly white, with a few red stripes, 
and stand up in such a way as to form a cup with 
the rounded and serrate wings of the column, which 
suggested the generic name. The middle lobe of the 
lip is subulate, slender, and creamy, with one purple 
line along the middle. The plant is of modest 
aspect, as the specific name implies, but interesting. 
Botanical Certificate. Exhibited by Major Joicey 
(gardener, Mr. Fred J. Thorne), Sunningdale Park. 
Sunningdale, Berks. 
Dendrobium Phalaenopsis Schroderianum. 
—Since the great importation of this fine Dendrobe 
it frequently appears in public, and practically in 
greater or less numbers at every meeting of the 
Royal Horticultural Society during the autumn and 
early winter months. We received some flowers the 
other day from Walter Cobb, Esq. (gardener, Mr. 
House), Dulcote Park, Tunbridge Wells, and which 
were much above the average in size, being, in fact, 
of dimensions seldom equalled and probably hardly 
ever surpassed. The blooms were of great texture 
and measured 3 in. across the long way and 34 in. 
from tip to tip of the petals without being spread out. 
The sepals were pink fading to white towards the 
base, while the roundly rhomboid petals were rosy 
passing to white at the base. The throat and base 
of the lip was white, and the side lobes nearly so, 
while the terminal lobe was deep rosy-purple intensi¬ 
fied to crimson at its basal part. This arrangement 
of the colours is different from that which usually 
prevails in Orchids generally, for the colouring is, as 
a rule, most intensified in the centre of the flower. 
D. Phalaenopsis Schroderianum usually abides by 
this rule, but we have seen several sub-varieties of it 
with a white centre. 
* 
The Stove. 
This department will need the most careful manage¬ 
ment for the next few weeks, as it often happens 
that during very hard weather the fires have to be 
driven pretty vigorously in order to maintain the 
requisite temperature. Too hard firing is, however, 
a very great mistake, for apart from the waste of 
fuel it entails, it has a parching and weakening 
influence upon the plants themselves. Indeed it is 
much better that the temperature should fall a few 
degrees short of the one specified to be maintained 
rather than it should be kept up by undue driving 
of the fires. 
The giving of air, too, is a matter of the utmost 
importance. A little ventilation must be given, or 
the atmosphere will inevitably become close and 
unpleasant, but at the same time care must be taken 
that no cold currents of air or draughts are allowed 
to come in contact with the plants, or harm to them 
will inevitably result. Where the air admitted by 
the bottom ventilators has to pass over the 
hot-water pipes before reaching the interior 
of the house, it becomes warmed in its transit 
and thus evil results will be avoided. Care must 
also be taken that the atmosphere of the house is 
not allowed to get dry, which it is very liable to do 
when strong heat has to be maintained in the pipes 
day and night. 
The sponging and cleaning of the plants will of 
necessity constitute an important part of the work 
to be performed in the stove throughout the whole 
of the present month. Any climbers that were not 
pruned earlier, owing to the tenacity with which 
their leaves clung to them, may now be operated 
upon, cleaned, and neatly tied to the wires again. 
After pruning it will of course be necessary to see 
that water at the root is very carefully given, no 
matter whether the plants be grown in pots or planted 
out in specially prepared borders. 
Greenhouse and cool Conservatory. 
The greatest enemy in this department, and the one 
calculated to do the largest amount of damage if not 
watched is damp. Advantage, therefore, should be 
taken of all bright days, and whenever it is possible 
to ventilate, air should be given as freely as cir¬ 
cumstances will permit. This greatly assists to 
produce the necessary atmospheric conditions, to 
keep the plants healthy and vigorous, and to ward 
off the encroaches of the damp. The night tempera¬ 
ture of the house should range between 42S and 
458 Fahr., but, as in the stove, so in this depart¬ 
ment it is far preferable to allow a slight drop in the 
temperature than to use too much fire heat. 
Plants as they go out of flower should be removed 
to the shelter of a frame or pit, others being moved 
in from the forcing department to fill the vacant 
places. Any shifting of this kind that is necessary 
should be carefully performed, and if cold winds 
prevail, or the weather is at all frosty the plants 
that are being moved will need some protection 
during their passage—the middle of the day being 
always chosen as the best time to perform the opera¬ 
tion. From the great difference existing between 
the constitutions of the plants that fill the con¬ 
servatory at this period of the year, and the various 
conditions of treatment necessary it will be obvious 
that great discretion must be exercised in the water¬ 
ing. Of course a great many of what we may term 
the regular greenhouse subjects, may, with advantage, 
have their water supply considerably curtailed, but 
in the case of plants which have been forced, and 
others which bloom about this time of the year which 
have been grown on in heat, and in which root 
action is vigorous, a considerable supply of water 
will be needed. 
Occasional doses of manure water may be given 
to Salvias, Richardias, Primulas, &c., also to such 
hardwooded subjects as Camellias and Epacrises 
which are coming into bloom. Continue to cut 
down Chrysanthemums as soon as the flowers have 
been removed from them and shift them to any pits 
or frames that may be vacant. 
Pits and Frames. 
Here of course great activity must at all seasons 
prevail, and at none more particularly than at the 
present, for here it is that plants for the furnishing 
of the show houses, and for the production of cut 
bloom have to be brought on. 
Introduce into heat succession batches of Lilacs, 
Azaleas, Deutzias, Staphyleas and Roses. With 
regard to these latter the present is a most favour¬ 
able time to commence to force the main stock of 
plants. In all heated pits a moist and growing 
atmosphere should be maintained, a frequent use of 
the syringe upon hard-wooded subjects that are 
being forced assisting greatly in the development of 
the buds. Relays of bulbs to form succession 
batches for use in the conservatory should be placed 
in heat at intervals, and those in flower should be 
moved into a cooler temperature as quickly as possi¬ 
ble or the blooms will not last for very long. 
Attend to the thinning out of Cinerarias, as 
increased growth calls for more room, and keep a 
sharp look-out for the appearance of green-fly,which, 
ahould it make its appearance should be greeted by 
several light fumigations. 
Winter Flowering Carnations. 
The house or pit in which these are kept should be 
as light as possible, and the plants must be kept 
close to the glass or the growth will be weak and 
spindly. Applications of weak manure water may 
be made at intervals to assist in the developing of 
the flower buds, and a night temperature of not less 
