490 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
April 2,1898, 
PLANTS RECENTLY CERTIFICATED. 
The awards mentioned below were made by the 
Royal Horticultural Society on the 22nd ult. 
Orchid Committee. 
DeNDROBIUM NOBILE ASHWORTH!ANUM. NOV. Var. 
—The sepals and petals of this variety are slightly 
twisted and pure white. The lip is large, rather 
more expanded than usual, and white, tinted with the 
faintest shade of lemon, the usual blotch being 
entirely gone. The variety attracted a great amount 
of attention, being so unlike the usual forms of D. 
nobile, although the growth was of that species. 
First-class certificate. E. Ashworth, Esq. (gardener, 
Mr. H. Holbrook), Harefield Hall, Wilmslow, 
Cheshire. 
Odontoglossum hybridum ashworthianum.— 
This was considered to be a cross between O. Cer- 
vantesii lilacina and O. cordatum, but it has a strong 
family likeness to O. Rossii aspersum violaceum. 
The sepals are red-brown, with transverse yellow 
lines. The petals are rose-purple with a few 
brownish-crimson blotches at the base. The lip is 
rosy-purple, and the crest creamy. Award of Merit, 
E. Ashworth, Esq. 
Odontoglossum crispum Princess Christian. 
Nov. var. —The flowers of this variety are of large 
size and handsome appearance, with acuminate 
sepals and petals. The former have two large and 
lobed blotches of a brownish-purple, and often 
joined into one. The petals have a semi-circular 
line of smaller round blotches on the centre. The 
lip has a blotch in front of the crest. The ground 
colour of all the segments is white. First-class 
Certificate. Baron Schroder (gardener, Mr. H. 
Billantine), The Dell, Egham. 
Odontoglossum rochfordianum. Nov. hyb. 
nat. —In this we have a natural hybrid apparently 
a cross between O. crispum andersonianum and O. 
luteo-purpureum. The sepals and petals are thickly 
blotched with crimson-red on a creamy ground. 
The lip has a few small blotches. Altogether it is a 
pretty variety. Award of Merit. Mr. Thos. Roch- 
ford, Turnford Hall Nurseries, near Broxbourne, 
Herts. 
Oncidium cucullatum Phalaenopsis Brandt’s 
var. Nov. var —The sepals and petals are white 
and richly blotched with claret-purple. The lip is of 
great size for the species and thickly spotted with 
purple. The markings generally are larger and 
brighter than the type. Award of Merit. Frau Ida 
Brandt, Zurich. 
Floral Committee. 
Dracaena Exquisite. — This showy variety 
belongs to the broad-leaved section, and is of close, 
excellent habit, the leaves being placed closely 
together and arching. They are of a deep green 
with broad, whitish edges as they first expand, but 
the colour improves as the leaves develop and ulti¬ 
mately become bright red and handsome. Some 
leaves have a great extent of colour. Award of 
Merit. Messrs J Veitch & Sons, Ltd., Chelsea. 
Amaryllis Ideala.— The flowers of this variety are 
of beautiful form, and creamy-white with deep scarlet 
tips to the segments. Award of Merit. Messrs. J. 
Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
Amaryllis Clonia. —The base of this flower is 
green, and the rest of the body colour white, chastely 
and beautifully shaded all round the margins with 
orange-scarlet. The flower is large and open, while 
the delicacy and combination of its colours is such 
as we seldom meet with. Award of Merit. Messrs. 
J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
Amaryllis Tacola. —The segments of the large 
open flowers are very broad, much overlapping, and 
of a clear bright scarlet, with a white ray running 
nearly to the apex of each segment. Award of 
Merit. Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
Azalea japonic a rubra.— The flowers of this 
Japanese plant are of medium size, something re¬ 
sembling the Carmichael strain of Azaleas, and of a 
rather attractive red colour. Award of Merit. W. 
Nicholson, Esq. (gardener, Mr. Wm. Smythe), 
Basing Park, Alton, Hants. 
Hyacinth City of Haarlem.— This variety pro¬ 
duces a dense and massive spike of rather richer and 
brighter yellow than usual amongst yellow Hya¬ 
cinths. Award of Merit. Messrs. Wm. Paul & 
Son, Waltham Cross. 
Amaryllis Beacon. — The large open flowers of 
this variety are of an intense crimson, deepening in 
the throat to maroon-crimson. As a dark variety it is 
very telling, and effective by contrast with lighter 
sorts. Award of Merit. Captain Holford (gardener, 
Mr. A. Chapman), Westonbirt, Tetbury, Gloucester. 
Imantophyllum Optima.— In this we have a very 
large flower with long segments of a rich orange, 
with a soft yellow throat. Award of Merit. Messrs. 
J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
Imantophyllum Favourite. —There are so many 
orange varieties amongst this class of plants that a 
change is highly desirable and effective by contrast. 
The large, well-formed flowers of Favourite are of a 
soft salmon-pink with a pale sulphur-yellow throat, 
and at a short distance have the appearance as if 
approaching yellow. The variety is certainly an 
acquisition. Award of Merit. Messrs. J. Veitch & 
Sons, Ltd., Chelsea. 
-—#*■- 
THE VICTORIA AND PARADISE 
NURSERIES. 
During the storm of wind and sleet that prevailed 
last week, we paid a visit to the Victoria and 
Paradise Nurseries of Messrs. B. S. Williams & 
Son, at Upper Holloway. Orchids, Palms, Ferns, 
fine foliage plants, Amaryllis and Clivias are some of 
the leading specialities of the glasshouses here, 
spring flowering plants being now in bloom. 
Orchids. 
Amongst Cattleyas the type now in season is C. 
Trianaei in its various shades of colour. The same 
may be said of Cypripedium villosum, a good old 
subject not very much given to variation in colour, 
though its near relative C. v. Boxallii shows a greater 
range of variety in the matter of spotting and the 
intensity of colour. Considering how many months 
have elapsed since Calanthes commenced to flower. 
ODe would hardly expect to find them now, yet many 
are in full bloom here and others only in bud, in¬ 
cluding some quantity of C. sanderiana, having rosy 
segments and a deep purple lip. Very pretty is the 
hybrid C. Williamsii with nearly white sepals and 
petals, and a crimson and rose lip. C. oculata 
gigantea is notable for the great size of its flowers 
which are white, well set off with an orange, eye-like 
blotch in the throat. 
Coelogyne cristata alba has made wonderful pro¬ 
gress here within the last few years, the small pieces 
having grown to large size and making the baskets 
conspicuous with their snow white flowers. Cypri¬ 
pedium chamberlainianum maintains its old charac¬ 
teristic of never having finished flowering. C. 
lathamianum is notable for the variation amongst its' 
flowers, and we noted a very fine variety here with a 
yellow lip and richly coloured petals. The fragran 
Cymbidium eburneum has for its companion at pre¬ 
sent a nice bit of C. devonianum with a distinctly 
rosy lip, and suspended in an Orchid pan from the 
roof. Zygopetalum Perrenoudi belongs to the same 
type as Z. Mackayii though entirely different from 
that and notable for its large and showy dark violet 
lip, and richly blotched sepals and petals. It lasts a 
long time in bloom. The hybrid Phaius Norman, 
which was recently honoured with a First-class Cer¬ 
tificate by the R. H. S., has found its way here, 
some of the varieties having large and beautifully 
marked flowers. In one case the sepals and petals 
are of a beautiful soft rosy pink, and the lip rose in 
the upper half, and crimson in the tube, beautifully 
lined with orange. Numerous plants of Epidendrum 
radicans scattered about amongst Vandas and other 
Orchids have a very brightening effect with their 
glowing scarlet flowers. Vandas are well cared for, 
and thrive well here, and being tall plants occupy 
the upper shelves of the central staging. V. suavis 
and V. tricolor have commenced flowering, and 
carry numerous spikes in the bad stage. The 
colour is varied and some of the flowers are 
unusually large. 
The cool houses contain numerous varieties of 
Odontoglossum crispum, O. Pescatorei, O. trium- 
phans, and O. Rossii majus. The orange-scarlet of 
Ada aurantiaca shows a bright bit of colour for a 
cool house species. In more than one house we 
came upon Cypripediums in great variety, some of 
which are already in bloom. A fine thing is C. 
Gertrude Hollington. C. gowerianum superbum is 
making remarkably vigorous growth, and the tessel¬ 
lated leaves are ornamental in themselves. Half 
one side of a house has been filled with Odontoglos¬ 
sum crispum in healthy [vigorous condition, and the 
other half is to be filled presently with the same 
species. A glass case contains healthy plants of 
Anoectochilus, including A. Petola whose leaves 
appear to be finely threaded with gold. On the 
contrary A. setaceus is beautifully threaded with 
re^ lines, not at all corresponding to the venation, 
but forming a distinct kind of ornamentation. A. 
intermedius has dark, velvety, olive leaves with a 
grey venation, making a pleasing contrast. These 
Orchids are gems of their kind. 
CLIVIAS. 
This class of plants is now in perfection, as far as 
the flowers are concerned ; the foliage is perennially 
in splendid condition and never unsightly. A good 
many of the best varieties and selections of past 
years are named, a few of which we noted. Ambrose 
Verschaffelt is notable for the great length of its 
rich orange flowers and the size of its trusses. On 
the other hand Prince of Orange is a finely formed 
flower, with short, overlapping segments of great 
breadth, and intense orange colour. This we con¬ 
sider a choice variety. Aurantiaca has large, soft 
orange flowers tending towards the desired yellow 
hue. The orange flowers of Martha Reimers are 
produced in trusses of great size ; while Surprise is 
notable for the great length and boldness of each 
individual flower. Entering another house we found 
the wide central staging entirely filled with a large 
collection of Clivias from which the previous lot 
was an overflow. Amongst the numerous varieties 
the darkest was undoubtedly Meteor with short 
compact flowers of a glowing orange-scarlet. Another 
fine thing is Robusta, a vigorous growing sort bear¬ 
ing huge trusses of large orange flowers, nearly white 
in the throat. Lindeni, though a good variety in its 
day, is now far surpassed in colour by many of the 
varieties. For large conservatories nothing could be 
more suitable than these Clivias, which are of decora¬ 
tive value whether in flower or not. 
Amaryllis. 
Many of the earlier varieties are now in full bloom, 
but the cold and sunless condition of the weather 
for some time past has been retarding them, the 
spikes and flower buds of a large proportion just 
creeping along slowly. This will have the effect of 
prolonging the season, however. A bold and hand¬ 
some flower is Gerald Balfour, being large, well ex¬ 
panded, and rich crimson-scarlet with a short green 
ray. A group of Dr. Masters is notable for the 
dwarf habit of the flower scapes, the blooms them¬ 
selves being neatly formed, and of a brilliant, glossy 
scarlet. A light flower is Sea Breeze, being deli¬ 
cately and beautifully netted all over with scarlet on 
a white ground. Many varieties are now in flower 
in which the blood of Empress of India is evident. 
In its day that variety was one of the finest in culti¬ 
vation. Seedlings are numerous, and many of them 
having shapely, richly-coloured flowers, just opening 
when we saw them, had not then received names. 
One of the choicest of all the light coloured varieties 
is Holloway Belle, the widely expanded and beauti¬ 
fully formed flower being of a charming soft rosy- 
scarlet, deepening upon the inner segments, the 
whole being delicately pencilled with darker veins, 
giving the flowers a striated appearance. A broad, 
white ray runs to the apex of each segment. The 
segments of Grandidens are of a uniform crimson, 
except on the lower half of the midrib, which is 
darker. One of the best is Lord Brassey, the broad 
segments being of a bright or lively scarlet, with 
white rays and a green centre to the flower. 
Other flowering plants include a variety of Indian 
Azaleas, also varieties of Azalea mollis, white and 
purple forced Lilac, and hybrid greenhouse Rhodo¬ 
dendrons in variety. A handsome hybrid is that 
named R. Madame Cuvelier, with huge, pure white, 
fragrant flowers freely produced. The front of the 
large conservatory is gay with Hyacinths, Daffodils, 
Lily of the Valley, and vaiious other spring flowers. 
Fine Foliage Plants. 
Several of the houses are devoted to Crotons, 
Dracaenas, and Aralias, of which there are good 
collections here of the leading kinds. The propa¬ 
gating houses and pits are all busy in the getting up 
of a stock of young stuff of the various fine foliage- 
plants. Small pots of Cocos weddeliana are grown 
in quantity and in fine condition. Dracaena 
Doucetti, with narrow leaves, edged with white, is a 
beautiful and useful decorative subject. Marantas, 
Calatheas, Pandanus Veitchi variegatus, Dieffen- 
bachias, and various other stove subjects are grown 
in great variety, including Anthuriums now in 
