The Garden Magazine, May, 1924 
like, relatively stout, cylindrical, swollen 
at or between the joints and tubercled 
in appearance. 
Of Lovely Ladyslippers and 
“The Lost Orchid” 
O NE of the most popular classes is 
that of the Cypripediums, the 
Lady-slipper Orchids, characterised by 
their united lateral sepals and pouch¬ 
like lip. Under this name are grouped, 
in the popular mind, species found in 
the cool temperate region of America, 
Europe, and Asia, in tropical Indo- 
Malaya and south China and in tropical 
America. But there are sufficient tech¬ 
nical differences to divide this composite 
group into three genera. 
Strictly speaking the true Cypripe¬ 
diums are confined to the temperate 
regions mentioned; the tropical Ameri¬ 
can species are referred to the genus 
Phragmopedilum; and those of the east¬ 
ern tropics to that of Paphiopedilum. 
This explanation is necessary, but for 
the purpose of this article we may adhere 
to the old accustomed usage of the gen¬ 
eric name Cypripedium. 
Some of the temperate species were 
mentioned in the introductory para¬ 
graphs and space forbids of any further 
reference. There are, however, in south 
China and Indo-Malaya a whole host of 
species, many of which are among the 
most popular and best known Orchids. 
Prominent among these is the familiar 
Cypripedium insigne, native of the east¬ 
ern Himalayas, one of the most easily 
grown of Orchids and one that revels 
under cool conditions. The flowers are 
erect, of varying shades of polished yel¬ 
low, brown, white, and green delightfully 
blended. There are very many named 
forms of this, differing in the color of 
217 
A DENDROB 1 UM FROM BURMAH 
“The first wild ephiphytic Orchids I saw in any quantity were Dendrobium chrysanthum 
and D. chrysotaxum in the forest of Yunnan,” writes Mr. Wilson (page 216). Its graceful 
sprays of small golden yellow flowers (with reddish streaked orange disk on lip) and its 
accomodating habit make D. chrysotaxum (shown above, a favorite for greenhouse culture 
BULBOPHYLLUM MEDUSAE 
Of the many bizarre and tricksy forms that Orchids 
manage to achieve none is more extraordinary than 
this where the sepals (dull pale yellow spotted 
with pink) are drawn out into long drooping hair¬ 
like threads strangely reminiscent of the mythical 
Medusa for whom this Singapore species is named 
the flowers, and all very lovely. Another favorite Burmah species is C. villosum which 
has been so largely used by the hybridist. The mountains of Bhutan and adjacent Sik¬ 
kim are the home of the pretty C. Fairieanum with its decurved, ciliated lateral petals. 
It was first introduced in 1857 and flowered and was figured in the Botanical Magazine 
(t. 5024) of the same year and subsequently lost. For fifty years its habitat remained 
unknown and a large reward was offered for its rediscovery but all efforts failed until 1904. 
It became famous as “the Lost Orchid” (see “The Romance of a Lost Orchid,” The 
Garden Magazine, Mar. 1906, page 62,) but its re-introduction was bungled and very little 
monetary reward fell to those who succeeded in winning anew this plant into gardens. 
Those just named and others with scapose flowers have green leaves, but there is 
another and more tropical section having leaves beautifully marbled with white and dark 
green. Among them may be mentioned the handsome C. callosum of which there are 
many named and winsomely colored forms—also C. Curtisii of Sumatra and C. Lawrencea- 
num of Borneo. The latter has a dark red-brown pouch and a broad white, striped with 
red-brown standard. The limestone-loving Burmese C. bellatulum and its yellow flowered 
confrere, C. concolor, have marbled leaves and are found as far north as south China. 
Another species of the same group is the delightful C. niveum which is native of the Mala¬ 
yan Islands and first introduced in 1868. Another group with large flowers in racemes and 
long green leaves is represented by a number of species of which C. Rothscbildianum, 
C. Stonci , C. superbiens, C. barbatum, C. Parisbii amd C. argus are fine representatives. 
These have long, often arching, and usually bearded lateral petals, frequently marked with 
eye-like dots; and the flowers are more or less dark colored. Most of them are Malaysian 
but several grow in the Philippines. 
Orchids that Flourish Where the Snow Flies and a Terrestrial “King of Flowers” 
1 SHALL long remember the pleasure I felt on first beholding in a wild state the well- 
known Coelogyne cristata. It was in the forests of Sikkim above the Teesta River 
where hungry leeches swarmed on all sides. The plants grow on moss-clad rocks and at 
