Part 3

_Cattleya Morganæ_ requires the same treatment as _C. Mendelii_ and _C. Mossiæ_, and will thrive well, grown either in a pot or basket, planted in good fibrous peat and sphagnum moss. It will also succeed on a block suspended from the roof. As in the case of the other _Cattleyas_, it prefers to have all the light possible, but to be just sufficiently shaded to keep off the direct rays of the sun. It must be borne in mind that the plants are found growing naturally on the branches and stems of trees in the forests, where they get some shade, and a free circulation of air, which it is of great benefit to secure, and which should be made a point of the utmost importance in the artificial cultivation of all Orchids, as of most other plants. It would be a great boon to cultivators if our collectors would note down and supply fuller and more precise information on these points, for although of course the natural conditions could not in all cases be carried out to the full extent, yet we should then be better able to imitate them, and thus supply the natural wants of the plants. In giving as much air and light as possible, however, cold draughts must be avoided, which may be effected by fixing the ventilators near the hot-water pipes, and should a cold wind prevail by giving air on the opposite side, always closing the house in good time. In summer water should be freely sprinkled about the tables and paths twice a day, namely, in the morning, and about three or four o’clock in the afternoon. During the dull dark days of winter, very little moisture is required, but on warm days some water may be given to the plants, especially in springtime when the days begin to lengthen. Syringing should be avoided during the winter, except in the case of those on blocks, for a little dewing with the syringe during the day, will not hurt these, as the moisture quickly dries off. The water should always be used in a tepid state.

One of the most important items in Orchid culture is cleanliness. Every plant should be cleansed as soon as any indications of insect life are perceived upon it, since there are Insecticides and other remedies sold to destroy all such pests. Cockroaches, Snails, and Woodlice are very troublesome, and should be well looked after at night when they come out to feed on the young shoots and flowers. Woodlice may be caught by laying down here and there traps, consisting of some moss, at night, or half potatos or turnips scooped out in the centre, and placed about in quiet nooks and corners, or on the pots; the woodlice will harbour under them, and may be caught and destroyed in the morning.

Cattleya gigas.—See note under Plate 2. We have since received a wonderfully grand flower of _Cattleya gigas_ from the fine collection of J. S. Bockett, Esq., of Stamford Hill; it is eight and a half inches in diameter; the sepals and petals are of a light rose colour, the lip three inches across, and three in length, of the richest crimson-magenta, margined with a lighter colour, and the throat partly magenta and partly orange. The spike bore four of these flowers.—B. S. W.

PROMENÆA CITRINA. [Plate 7.] Native of Brazil.

Epiphytal. _Pseudobulbs_ small, ovate, tetragonal. _Leaves_ three to four inches in length, oblong-ligulate, acute, tapering below into a narrow petiole, growing two together at the apex of the pseudobulb, of a pale green colour. _Scapes_ two to three inches long, bearing largish ovate bracts in the upper part, and smaller bracts below, and terminated by a solitary deep yellow showy flower, measuring about an inch and a half across; _sepals_ obovate, acute, concave or curving forwards at the tip, bright yellow; _petals_ yellow, also converging, similar to the sepals in size, form, and colouring; _lip_ larger and broader than the sepals and petals, spreading, three-lobed, the two lateral lobes erect, oblong obtuse, rising up on each side of the column, yellow spotted with red on the inner face, the front lobe plane, obovate, apiculate, unspotted yellow, with a prominent crest at its base. _Column_ erect, semi-terete, incurved, stained in the front with brownish red.

Promenæa citrina, _Don_, _Hortus Cantabrigiensis_, ed. 13, 720 (1845); _London_, _Hortus Britannicus Supp._ 618 (1850); _Williams_, _Orchid Growers’ Manual_, ed. 4, 253, ed. 5, 281; _Rand_, _Orchids_, 377.

Maxillaria citrina, _Lyons_, _Treatise on Orchidaceous Plants_, 176.

_Promenæa_ is a small genus of Orchids which was separated from _Maxillaria_ about forty years ago (1843) by Lindley, who at the same time also dissociated from it the plants respectively referred to _Warrea_, _Paphinia_, _Lycaste_, and _Scuticaria_. Later on Reichenbach classed _Promenæa_ as a section of _Zygopetalum_. Dr. Lindley distinguished the group of species which he referred to _Promenæa_, and which he regarded as fully entitled to generic rank, by the following peculiar features, namely, their spreading sepals, their three-lobed lip, crested or tuberculate at the base, their short semi-terete column, and their ovate glandule with four, that is two double, sessile pollen masses. The species then proposed were _P. stapelioides_, _P. xanthina_, _P. lentiginosa_, _P. Rollissonii_, and _P. graminea_. To these Reichenbach added _P. guttata_ in 1856, and _P. microptera_ in 1881. Neither of these authorities, so far as we can trace, refer to _P. citrina_; but, according to Don and Loudon, the plant was introduced to our gardens in 1840, though they attribute to it the erroneous habitat of Mexico. Our good friend, Professor Reichenbach, suggests that it is a garden name, sometimes applied to _P. Rollissonii_ and sometimes to _P. guttata_; but it has long been recognised as a distinct plant by English and Continental Orchid growers, and is certainly different from the _P. Rollissonii_ figured by Dr. Lindley; nor does it correspond with the description of _P. guttata_, so far as the materials at hand enable us to judge.

This, it will be seen, is a very neat-growing plant, the small tetragonal pseudobulbs slowly creeping over the surface of the blocks on which the plants are grown. It is, moreover, of small stature, the leaves, which grow in pairs from the top of the pseudobulbs, rarely exceeding three or four inches in height, and the flower-scapes attaining even less elevation. The flowers, which are rather large for so small a plant, being of a rich and brilliant colour, become rather effective; and though, of course, they do not compare at all in gorgeous beauty with those of many of the larger-flowered Orchids, they are by no means to be despised even from the decorative point of View; indeed, when grown on a block, as represented in the accompanying Plate, and suspended from the roof of the house, the plant forms a very pretty and distinct object, occupying, as it does, but a small space in which it displays much beauty and attractiveness. The bright orange-yellow flowers are, moreover, very freely produced, and if kept dry, continue for a long time in a fresh and pleasing condition.

There is another species of the same habit, _Promenæa stapelioides_, which comes into bloom about the same time as this, and in which the flowers are spotted with dark purple, so that they appear to be nearly black. The contrast of these two when grown and flowered on the same block is very effective. In the noble collection of Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., we saw a large pan-full of _P. citrina_ growing freely, which had a very beautiful appearance, but we prefer to see the plant grown on a block, as in this manner the flowers hang downwards, and are shown off to much greater advantage. There are certain varieties to be occasionally met with, in which the flowers are without spots on the lip, but those which have this latter peculiarity are to be preferred, as the two colours afford a pleasant relief.

Fibrous peat and sphagnum moss seem to suit the plant well when it is grown in either pots or pans; but when cultivated on blocks of wood, a little sphagnum moss only about its roots will be quite sufficient, though if grown in this latter way it requires a more liberal and more frequent supply of water, in order to keep the roots moist. We find the Cattleya-house to suit it best, and we grow it suspended against a wall at the end of the house, where it gets syringed in warm weather. The manner in which its blooms are produced may be seen from our Illustration, which is an excellent representation of the habit of the plant, not only as regards its general manner of growth, but also of its mode of flowering.

CYPRIPEDIUM STONEI. [Plate 8.] Native of Borneo.

Terrestrial. _Stem_ wanting, the short erect crowns each furnished with numerous radical evergreen leaves, and emitting stout fleshy roots. _Leaves_ distichous (two-ranked), a foot or more in length, leathery or somewhat fleshy, oblong, obtuse, with a short recurved mucro, dark green above, of a paler green beneath. _Scape_ dark purple, issuing from the centre of the leaves and furnished with a sheathing bract at its base, about two feet in height, three to four-flowered, the pedicels subtended by green lanceolate acuminate bracts. _Flowers_ large, richly-coloured, measuring when spread out four inches in the direction of the sepals, and nine to ten inches in that of the petals; _dorsal sepal_ broadly cordate, acuminate, nearly two inches broad, white, marked in front with a bold central, and on each side with two or three curved lateral stripes of deep purple-brown, keeled behind, and there stained with purple-brown; _lateral sepals_ (united) ovate-acuminate, with a central and on each side three lateral stripes extending nearly to the base, greenish-white, edged with purple-brown; _petals_ set at a right angle to the sepals, one-fourth of an inch broad, five inches long, tapering gradually to the apex, decurved, greenish-white with dark purple-brown veins and spots, becoming wholly purple at the tip, and having near the base a purple margin, and a few scattered marginal purple hairs; _lip_ large, prominent, calceoliform, the basal portion unguiculate from the introflexion of the margin, greenish, the apex large, pouch-shaped, like the front of a shoe or slipper, dull purplish-red reticulately veined with darker purple. _Column_ white, with a ring of yellow hairs at the base, two-branched, the lower branch three-lobed, the later lobes bearing each a small orbicular sessile yellow anther, the terminal lobe forming a large white ovate fleshy disk (abortive third stamen) the upper or stigmatic branch cordate-obovate, convex, whitish, tinged with purple, and fringed at the back and sides with yellow hairs.

Cypripedium Stonei, _Low_; _Hooker_, _Botanical Magazine_, t. 5349; _Van Houtte_, _Flore des Serres_, xvii., t. 1792-3; _Lemaire_, _Illustration Horticole_, ix., p. 107; x. t. 355; _Bateman_, _2nd Century of Orchidaceous Plants_, t. 141; _Jennings_, _Orchids_, t. 12.

This magnificent plant is one of the most beautiful species of the genus _Cypripedium_. Several varieties of it are known, and though they are all good and well worth growing, that which we have selected for illustration is the best and darkest that has come under our notice. The plant from which our figure was taken, bloomed in the Victoria Nursery, and had five flower-spikes, two of which have been in bloom for the past six weeks, and are now as fresh as ever.

_Cypripedium Stonei_ was first flowered by Mr. Stone, gardener to John Day, Esq., of High Cross, Tottenham, after whom it has been named. It was for a long period a very rare species, and, indeed now, though small plants may be purchased for a moderate sum, yet large specimens are scarce and valuable. It makes a fine show plant, its lasting qualities being a great recommendation to it, both from an exhibition and decorative point of view.

The plant is a native of Borneo, and was introduced to this country by the Messrs. Low, of Clapton. It produces dark green foliage of about twelve or in some of the varieties we have seen as much as fifteen inches in length. From the centre of this tuft of leaves the flower-spikes are produced and rise to a height of about two feet, each bearing three or four of its large slipper-shaped blossoms, which are the most exact representations of a shoe or slipper of those of any of the species, and most completely justify the trivial name of the genus, Lady’s Slipper. The sepals are large, white, striped on the veins or nerves, with dark purple, and tinged with yellow; the petals are five inches in length, and are yellowish, streaked and blotched with purple; and the lip is large and of a dull reddish-purple, veined with deeper purple-red. It is of free-blooming habit, and when the growths are strong it produces a flower-spike from each crown, but it takes some considerable time to complete its growth before it sends forth its spikes; indeed, it begins to grow soon after its blossoms have faded. The plant having no thick fleshy bulbs from which to derive support, requires a more continuous supply of moisture than many other Orchids. The roots are coarse and fleshy, and should in consequence be supplied with a stronger soil than is required by some of the other kinds. We find it to thrive best in good fibrous loam, with a small quantity of charcoal, and a little leaf-mould or peat, all being well mixed together, giving the pots good drainage, but not so much as is required in the case of _Cattleyas_, for example. As it is a strong rooting plant, it is best grown in a pot, and should be a little elevated above the rim. We have found the East India house to supply the most suitable atmospheric conditions in which to cultivate it; here it should be placed on the side-tables near the light, but out of the sun. The finest specimen we have seen exhibited was staged by Mr. Child, gardener to Mrs. Torr, Garbrand Hall, Ewell, Surrey, at the South Kensington Show, in 1878.

There is a very distinct variety of this plant called _Cypripedium Stonei platytænium_, of which a figure has been lately published in Mr. Warner’s _Select Orchidaceous Plants_, 3 ser., t. 16. Of this form, living plants were till recently only to be found in the collection of John Day, Esq., but they were distributed when that collection was recently dispersed by auction sales, and were purchased at high prices by Baron Schröder and Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., in whose collections they may now be seen. This variety is just like _C. Stonei_ in its growth, and the flowers are closely similar, the chief difference being, that the petals are shorter and broader, and resemble those of _C. superbiens_.

LÆLIA PURPURATA WILLIAMSII. [Plates 9-10.] Native of St. Catherine’s, Brazil.

Epiphytal. _Stems_ (or pseudobulbs) clavate-oblong, monophyllous, two feet or more in height, somewhat furrowed when mature. _Leaves_ coriaceous, evergreen, narrowly oblong, emarginate, dark green. _Scape_ three to four-flowered, issuing from a stout sheathing oblong bract or spathe, four to five inches long. _Flowers_ large, and very handsome; measuring eight inches across, of a delicate rose colour, with a purple-crimson lip; _sepals_ linear-lanceolate, acute, of a pale rosy tint, pencilled with simple rosy-purple longitudinal lines; _petals_ oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, of a beautiful delicate rose colour, pencilled with divergent forked lines of deeper purple; _lip_ (labellum) three-lobed, the lateral lobes obsolete, convolute around the column, the front lobe large, broad, and roundish, of a rich dark crimson-magenta, the tip paler and reticulately veined, and the throat yellow, beautifully veined with crimson-magenta. _Column_ scarcely reaching to the middle of the convolute base of the lip.

Lælia purpurata Williamsii, _Hort._; _Williams’ Orchid Grower’s Manual_, ed. 4, 196; ed. 5, 208.

The species, of which this is one of the finest known varieties, and the genus _Lælia_ to which it belongs, together with the neighbouring genus _Cattleya_, are placed by the great Orchidist, Reichenbach, in his amplified genus _Bletia_, so that the _Lælia purpurata_ of Lindley, in _Paxton’s Flower Garden_, becomes the _Bletia purpurata_ of Reichenbach in _Walpers’ Annales_, vi. 423. The name of _Lælia_ is, however, that which is adopted amongst cultivators of Orchids.

The _Lælia_ which we have now to describe, was named many years ago in the _Orchid Grower’s Manual_, when it was exhibited at the Crystal Palace and received its present appellation. The plant now represented was flowered at the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, but has now passed into the select collection of Baron Schröder, of The Dell, near Staines. It was a wonderfully strong plant, and produced two spikes of its highly coloured blossoms, which led all those who saw it in its beauty, to pronounce it to be the finest _Lælia_ they had ever witnessed. Our artist has given a good representation of the plant and its blossoms. The club-shaped stems and foliage stood thirty inches in height, and were provided with very strong sheathing bracts whence the flower-spikes issued, each bearing four flowers, which were individually eight inches in diameter. It has bloomed with us in the same style for two successive years. The plant that we flowered some years ago was not so large as that now figured, the reason being that it was not so strong a specimen, and, therefore, not able to produce such fine flowers. This is sufficient evidence of the advance the plants make before they get to their full strength and vigour. In the variety before us the sepals and petals are of a delicate rose, veined with a beautiful dark tint of the same colour, while the lip is very broad, large, and splendidly coloured, the prominent parts of a rich dark crimson-magenta, paler and veiny at the tip, and beautifully veined with crimson on the yellow ground-colour of the throat. The blooming season is in May and June, the flowers continuing in perfection for three or four weeks, if kept free from damp and in a dry place. We have a house set aside specially for Orchids when in flower, and in it very little moisture is used, by which means we seldom get the flowers spotted or prematurely decayed.

There is another fine form of _Lælia purpurata_ with white sepals and petals that are quite flat, not at all recurved; this variety has a rich dark crimson-magenta lip. We exhibited this form with nine flower spikes at the Regent’s Park Exhibition, and it produced a grand effect. There are many other fine varieties.

_Lælia purpurata_ when well cultivated is a good looking plant, and even when not in bloom it is an object of attraction, on account of its stately evergreen foliage. It is a native of Brazil, and is found growing on the branches of trees on the outskirts of the forests where the plants get light, and are yet shaded from the burning sun. They are best grown in the Cattleya-house, and will thrive either in pots or baskets, but we find the pot system the best, as they are strong growing plants, and require ample space to bring them to perfection. They are the better for being moved about, especially if they are required for exhibition. There are no more showy Orchids for exhibition purposes, and this is especially true of such varieties as that now before us.

We find that they thrive best in good fibrous peat, and some live sphagnum moss on a part of the surface; when in a growing state the moss keeps them moist without too much water being given whilst they are making their growth. In watering them be careful not to wet the young shoots. The pots should be three parts filled with drainage, which must be formed of broken pots and lumps of charcoal intermixed. The plants must be elevated about two inches above the rim of the pot. The best time to pot them is after they have done blooming just as they begin to make new growths, and before the roots start, when they will soon commence to work into the clean sweet peat. If the plant is in a sufficiently large pot, and the soil about it is sweet and clean, it will not require re-potting, but it will benefit the plants greatly to give them some fresh fibrous peat just before they begin to root, as the old soil is apt to become hard and inert through constant watering. They require to be kept moist during the growing season, but must not even then be soddened with water. In winter only just sufficient must be given them to keep them moist, and to prevent their stems and leaves from shriveling.

PHALÆNOPSIS AMABILIS DAYANA. [Plate 11.] Native of the Eastern Archipelago.

Epiphytal. _Stem_ none, or consisting of a short crown furnished with rigid fleshy leaves, and emitting succulent roots, which latter are flattened, and cling to any congenial object with which they come in contact. _Leaves_ large, thick and coriaceous, distichous, oblong, obliquely retuse, dark green above, purple beneath. _Scape_ long, drooping, issuing from the base of the plant, or the leaf axils, and bearing the large moth-like flowers in a two-ranked raceme. _Flowers_ large, pure opaque white, spreading, the lip beautifully coloured; _sepals_ oblong-obtuse, white, the lower ones prettily dotted with carmine; _petals_ larger and broader, sub-rhomboid, narrowed towards the base, pure white; _lip_ furnished with a callus at the base, smaller than the petals, three-lobed, the lateral lobes ovate obtuse, ascending or incurved, yellowish along the antical margin and dotted with carmine-crimson near the base, the central lobe trowel-shaped, carmine-crimson across the base and at the edge, and marked with a central crimson stripe; the lip is concave, bearing at the narrowed apex two incurved twisted white cirrhi. _Column_ semi-terete, recumbent on the ovary.

Phalænopsis amabilis Dayana, _Hort._

The genus _Phalænopsis_ belongs to the tribe _Vandeæ_, which is distinguished amongst those with waxy pollen-masses, by having these attached to a distinct caudicle, united to a deciduous stigmatic gland. It no doubt comprises several of our finest Orchids, which are prized no less on account of the graceful development of their inflorescence than for the attractive white blossoms of the more familiar species. Our drawing of the charming _Phalænopsis amabilis Dayana_ here figured, was taken from a fine specimen in the collection of W. Lee, Esq., of Downside, Leatherhead, who was kind enough to allow us to publish an illustration of it. The variety is very rare; indeed, we believe this is the only specimen known to be in cultivation in this country. It was named in compliment to John Day, Esq., of Tottenham, from whose collection it was obtained by Mr. Lee. From the markings about the base of the lip it will be seen to be very distinct, though it is no doubt a form of _P. amabilis_, with which it agrees in foliage and in the general character of the flowers, but differs in the distinct markings just referred to. The plant grows to about the same size as _P. amabilis_.