February  1,  1900.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  89 
Though  the  name  given  above  is  somewhat  cumbersome,  it  has 
one  distinct  merit,  inasmuch  as  it  gives  the  parentage  of  the  plant. 
It  was  shown  at  the  Drill  Hall  on  Tuesday,  January  23rd,  by  Messrs. 
J.  Veitch  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  Royal  Exotic  Nursery,  Chelsea,  and  received 
from  the  Orchid  Committee  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  a 
recommendation  for  a  first-class  certificate.  The  flower  (fig.  20)  is 
strikingly  beautiful,  and  was  probably  as  much  admired  as  any 
Orchid  in  the  hall  on  this  occasion.  The  petals  are  of  remarkable  sub¬ 
stance,  and  the  colour  is  an  intense  deep  yellow  ;  the  sepals  are  bright 
yellow.  The  splendid  lip  is  about  1  inch  across,  and  the  colour  is 
white  on  the  outer  portions,  with  showy  bright  purple  in  the  centre. 
The  spike  carried  five  fully  developed  flowers. 
PhaLjENopsis  Schilleeiano-Stuartiana. 
On  the  same  day  as  the  Epidendrum  was  honoured,  Phalaenopsis 
made  a  wonderful  display.  The  beauty  and  variety  were  alike 
charming,  and  the  interest  in  the  Orchid  section  would  have  been 
much  less  but  for  their  presence.  Two  received  special  recognition 
from  the  Orchid  Committee,  and  both  were  exhibited  by  Messrs. 
H.  Low  &  Co.,  Bush  Hill  Park  Nurseries.  Of  these  we  now  illustrate 
Phalaenopsis  Schilleriano-Stuartiana  (fig.  21),  which  received  a  first- 
class  certificate.  As  a  glance  at  the  representation  will  prove  it  is  of 
chastely  delicate  beauty.  The  broad  petals  are  white  with  deep  rose 
in  the  centre,  as  is  the  upper  sepal.i  The  lower  sepals  are  white,  with 
rose  spots  and  suffusion,  and  the  lip  also  is  white  with  jTofuse  rose 
spots. 
Dendrobium  Wardianum. 
The  true  type  of  D.  Wardianum  is  a  plant  seldom  seen  nowadays, 
and  though  a  very  beautiful  one,  cannot  compare  with  the  handsome 
Orchid  now  sold  under  this  name  either  for  ease  of  culture  or 
freedom  of  flowering.  But  ease  of  culture  is  here  only  a  relative 
term,  and  though  we  can  grow  and  flower  our  Wardianums  finely  while 
they  last,  they  are  not,  unfortunately,  by  any  means  long  lived  under 
cultivation.  What  we  know  as  D.  Wardianum  is  a  native  of  Burmah, 
and  was  discovered  in  the  first  place  by  Mr.  Boxall,  V.M.H.,  who  sent 
it  homo  to  Messrs.  Low  &  Co.  about  1875. 
Since  then  thousands  of  plants  have  been  imported,  and  it  is  one 
of  those  Orchids  that  I  should  advise  amateurs  to  purchase  newly 
imported  plants  of  in  preference  to  any  that  have  been  under  culti¬ 
vation.  The  advantage  is  that  these  plants  fresh  from  their  native 
Fig.  20. — Epidendrum  Wallisio-ciliare  superbum. 
habitat,  produce  very  beautifully  coloured  flowers  for  the  first  season 
or  BO.  Perhaps,  finer  flowers  were  never  seen  than  those  on  plants 
exhibited  at  various  centres  last  season  on  the  imported  stem,  but 
probably  many  of  these  have  not  come  up  to  the  expectations  of 
their  owner  this  season. 
But  even  in  its  poorer  forms  it  is  a  chaste  looking  and  lovely 
Orchid,  and  its  popularity  is  not  surprising.  The  original  D.  Wardi- 
anum  is  a  much  slenderer  plant,  that  bears  smaller  flowers, 
though  these  are  perha|)s  even  more  brightly  coloured.  •  ^This  .is 
much  like  a  small  D.  Falconer!,  and  was  at  first  thought’  to  he';a 
variety  of  that  species. 
Odontoglossum  crispdm  yirginale. 
From  one  of  my  correspondeuts  comes  a  very  fine” flower  of  this 
chaste  variety,  broad  petalled,  prettily  crisped  on  the  margin,  and 
altogether  one  of  the  finest  of  this  type  I  have  seen.  Yet,  although 
the  plant  he  admits  is  weak,  and  the  spike  a  large  one,  it  has  been 
allowed  to  remain  on  until  the  flowers  commenced  to  fade.  It  is 
usually  amateurs  who  do  this  kind  of  thing,  many  experienced 
growers  removing  the  flowers  immediately  a  really  good  firm  is  noted 
on  a  newly  imported  plant  for  obvious  reasons.  It  is  a  pity  to  farther 
weaken  a  valuable  plant  for  the  sake  of  seeing  the  flowers  a  week  or 
so  longer,  and  thereby  ruin  its  chances  for  another  year.  0.  c.  virginale 
is  not  a  particularly  rare  variety,  but  such  good  forms  as  |this  are 
uncommon. 
Dendrobium  capillipes. 
Tnis  charming  little  plant  has  always  been  a  favouri'.e  with  me,  and 
no  matter  who  grows  and  flowers  it  well  they  are  sure  to  ,be  pleased 
with  the  masses  of  yellow  blossoms  so  freely  produced. Although 
one  of  the  dwarfs  of  the  genus  it  is  as  showy  as  many  larger  species. 
Fig.  21.— Phalen'opsis  Schilleriano-Stuartiana. 
and  given  a  good  firm  hold  in  the  1  ome  of  its  adoption  little  trouble 
wi  1  be  found  in  growing  it.  Of  course  such  a  plant  will  not  do  in  a 
large  pot  with  much  compost  about  it,  but  in  smad  pans  or 
especially  on  Tree  Fern  stems  it  flourishes  under  the  usual  treatment 
accorded  to  Dendrobiums.  A  peculiarity  is  tho  very  tine  hair-liKe 
stems  of  the  flowers  from  which  the  species  takes  its  name. 
Oncidium  Hakrisonianum. 
Many  growers  object  to  this  species  on  the  score  of  colour,  which 
they  do  not  consi  er  as  saowy  as  many  others,  but  the  fine  old  gold 
tint  in  my  op.nion  is  as  attractive  as  anything  we  have  in  dwarf 
Orchids.  It  likes  a  light  and  rather  cool  house,  such  as  suits  Sophronitis, 
and  may  be  grown  in  small  receptacles,  giving  a  compost  of  equal 
parts  of  peat  fibre  and  moss.  It  has  gl  lucous  leaves  and  pseudo- 
bulbs  that  distinguish  it  from  any  other  kind,  and  is  a  native^ot 
Brazil. — H.  R.  R. 
LONDON  GARDENS  OYER  FIFTY  YEARS. 
No.  18. 
We  have  already  remarked  that  though  Osborn’s  was  generally 
called  the  Fulham  Nursery,  the  same  name  seems  to  have  been  some¬ 
times  given  to  another  between  Walham  Green  and  Fulham.  This 
was  really  at  Percy  Cross,  a  modern  name  which  has  much  puzzled 
inve.-'tigators.  It  is  not  likely  to  be  altered  now,  but  Percy  could  not 
have  been  its  original  spelling.  Some  argue  it  was  “Purser’s  Cross,” 
because  a  ship’s  purser  was  buried  at  the  cross  roads,  who  was  a 
suicide  or  had  committed  a  murder.  Others  uphold  “Parson’s  Cross,” 
asserting  that  hereabout  stood  a  cross  meant  to  guide  people  to  the 
parsonage.  We  must  leave  the  point  doubtful.  The  Percy  Cross 
Nursery  was  well  known  for  many  years,  Mr.  Dancer  being  a  largo 
grower  of  evergreens  and  fruit  trees.  In  the  time  of  Cromwell  we 
read  of  one  Daunsar,  who  was  a  benefactor  to  Fulham  and  Hammer¬ 
smith;  apparently  the  Dancers  were  first  farmers,  then  market 
gardeners,  afterwards  nurserymen.  Besides  this  nursery  the  late  Mr. 
Dancer  had  extensive  grounds  at  Chiswick,  near  the  gardens  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society  and  the  Duke  of  Devonshire’s  mansion. 
