April  28,  1898. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
371 
Cypripedium  Olenus  Burfobd  Variety. 
This  is  one  of  the  grandest  Cypripediums  that  has  been  exhibited, 
its  size  and  the  massiveness  of  all  the  organs  place  it  in  the  front 
rank  of  the  hybrids  that  have  bellatulum  as  one  of  the  parents. 
C.  Olenus  was  shown  in  March,  1895,  by  Mr.  H.  J.  Chapman, 
gardener  to  R.  I.  Measures,  Esq.,  but  it  is  quite  superseded  by  the 
Burford  Lodge  variety  which  was  staged  by  Mr.  W.  H.  White,  Orchid 
grower  to  Sir  Trevor  Latvrence,  Bart.  The  flower  is  shown  natural 
size  in  the  woodcut  (fig.  71),  and  is  therefore  about  5  inches  across. 
The  dorsal  sepal  is  of  immense  size,  the  ground  colour  being  white, 
almost  pure  at  the 
margins,  but  nearly 
imperceptible  at  the 
base  by  the  deep 
claret  markings. 
Shining  claret  is  the 
colour  of  the  pouch 
and  the  base  of  the 
petals,  which  are 
blush  white  at  the 
tips.  C.  Olenus 
Burford  variety  re¬ 
sulted  from  a  cross 
between  C.  bella¬ 
tulum  and  C.  cilio- 
lare,and  was  awarded 
a  first  -  class  certi¬ 
ficate  by  the  Orchid 
Committee  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural 
Society  on  the  12  th 
inst. 
Odontoglossum 
*  Rossi  ma.tus. 
It  is  not  my  in¬ 
tention  in  this  short 
note  to  go  into 
details  as  to-  the 
merits  of  this  easily 
grown  and  useful 
cool  house  Orchid. 
They  are  already 
well  known  to  pro¬ 
fessional  and  ama¬ 
teur  alike,  hut  in 
visiting  an  amateur 
recently  I  could  not 
fail  to  notice  the 
superiority  regard¬ 
ing  the  free  flower¬ 
ing  pro23erties  of 
plants  grown  on 
small  blocks  to  those 
grown  in  pots,  the 
flowers,  too,  ^ing 
much  larger.  The 
blocks  were  made 
of  teak  wood,  all  the  material  used  being  a  little  sphagnum  moss, 
which  was  held  in  position  by  copper  wire.  To  those  having  to 
economise  in  the  matter  of  space  this  system  is  to  be  recommended, 
as  they  take  up  small  space,  are  easily  dipped  or  syringed,  and 
most  certainly  show  their  tlowei's  to  greater  advantage  than  when 
grown  in  pots. — R.  P.  R. 
Fig.  71.— Cypripedium  Olenus  Burford  Variety. 
Odontoglossum  ooronarium. 
This  is  a  very  fine  species  when  well  grown,  and  though 
variable,  not  one  of  the  varieties  but  that  is  well  worth  growing. 
In  habit  it  somewhat  resembles  0.  grande,  but  is  looser,  so  to 
speak,  not  so  tufted,  and  consequently  requires  larger  receptacles  to 
grow  it  well.  Good  plants  may  be  grown  in  large  flat  baskets 
suspended  not  far  from  the  roof  in  the  cool  house,  when  the  light 
reaches  every  part  of  the  plant,  yet  it  is  shaded  from  bright  sunshine. 
The  scapes  appear  in  late  winter,  and  are  now  in  full  beauty. 
'i’hey  are  upw'ards  of  a  foot  in  length,  the  colour  of  the  flowers 
in  the  type  being  rich  deep  brown  on  the  sepals  andl  petals,  this  being 
margined  with  yellow.  The  lip  is  deep  yellow  with  large  brown 
blotches,  and  the  flower  has  a  glossy  surface,  as  if  varnished.  Peat 
fibre  and  sphagnum  moss,  with  abundance  of  large  rough  lumps  of 
charcoal  and  crocks,  suit  it  well  as  compost,  the  large  fleshy  roots 
taking  hold  of  this  class  of  material  better  than  that  of  a  finer  closer 
character.  Drain  the  baskets  or  pots  thoroughly,  and  keep  the  plants 
in  a  cool,  moist  atmosphere  all  the  year  round.  When  strong  enough 
they  will  bloom,  but  it  can  hardly  be  described  as  a  free-flowering 
species.  It  is  a  native  of  New  Grenada,  introduced  in  1847. — C.  H. 
.  ^CCELOGYNE  PANDURATA. 
A  DESCRIPTION  of  this  plant  fails  quite  to  give  an  idea  of  its 
beauty,  and  only  those  who  have  seen  well-flowered  specimens  know 
what  a  distinct  and  beautiful  thing  it  is.  In  habit  it  is  very  strong, 
the  pseudo-bulhs  occurring  at  several  inches  apart  on  the  rhizome,  and 
having  several  deep  green  leaves  18  inches  in  length  on  the  strongest 
plants.  The  bloom  spike  contains  many  flowers,  and  these  are 
upwards  of  3  inches  across,  the  sepals,  petals,  and  ground  colour  of  the 
lip  bright  emerald 
green,  the  latter 
being  beautifully 
crested,  and  other¬ 
wise  marked  with 
black,  a  very  pretty 
combination  ,as  strik  - 
ing  as  any  in  the 
genus. 
As  noted,  the 
pseudo  -  bulbs  are 
distinct,  and  this 
naturally  causes  the 
plant  to  soon  grow 
out  of  the  ordinary 
pot,  basket,  or  pan. 
Many  growers  for 
this  reason  use  long 
trellised  rafts,  very 
lightly  dressed  with 
peat  fibre  and  moss, 
the  roots  taking  hold 
of  this,  and  the 
plants  flourishing' 
well.  Tree  Fern 
stems,  again,  make 
a  splendid  holding 
for  the  roots,  the 
natural  roughness  of 
the  material  suiting 
them  exactly,  and 
the  plants  have  a 
fine  appearance 
thereon  when  in 
bloom.  The  pieces 
of  stem  should  be 
as  large  as  possible 
in  the  first  place, 
for  when  once  the 
roots  get  a  hold  they 
are  bad  to  trans¬ 
plant. 
There  is  nothing 
worse  for  this  class 
of  Orchid  than  the 
huge  lumps  of  cork, 
with  pieces  of  peat 
wired  to  them,  that 
were  at  one  time  ptopular.  No  matter  how  caretully  placed,  they 
were  very  ugly,  and  not  only  this,  but  the  peat  was  always  silting 
out  over  other  plants,  or  on  the  stages  and  paths.  This,  too,  led  to 
the  plants  getting  very  loose,  hanging  by  the  roots  as  it  were,  looking- 
untidy,  and  doing  badly.  It  would  be  far  better  to  plant  in  pans, 
and  let  them  grow  over  the  side,  as  they  would,  than  to  grow  them 
in  this  way. 
But  a  raft,  or  even  a  flat  basket,  is  easily  made,  and  should  be  used 
if  the  Fern  stems  are  not  at  command.  C.  pandurata  likes  plenty  of 
moisture  at  the  roots  Avhile  growing,  and  the  atmosphere  must  also 
be  kept  moist.  Sprinkling  should  not  be  overdone,  but  is  very 
1  helpful  in  summer  in  keeping  the  foliage  fresh.  At  all  times,  when 
gro-wth  is  at  all  active,  the  roots  must  never  be  really  dry  ;  and  whe  n 
growing  freely,  almost  aquatic  treatment  is  necessary.  When  resting, 
the  supply  must  be  shortened  a  little,  but  to  allow  the  pseudo-bulbs  to 
shrivel  is  quite  wrong,  leading  to  weak,  puny  flower  spikes,  and  badly 
developed  growth.  Still,  little  more  water  than  is  necessary  to  jirevent 
this  must  be  given  during  the  winter  months. 
