The Woodlands Orchids Part 18

It is a pretty house, as I have said. Experienced gardeners have a deep distrust of pretty houses. Picturesque effect and good culture can seldom be reconciled; the conditions needed for the one are generally fatal to the other. But here we have a pleasing exception. All is green and fresh--no brickwork, nor shelves, nor pipes, nor 'tombstone' labels obtrude upon the view. The back wall is draped with ferns and creepers, orchids peeping through here and there. A broad stand down the middle, accommodating five rows of Cypripediums on either side, has all its substructures masked with tufa, which bears a mantle of green. The side stands, each accommodating seven rows of pots, are equally clothed in verdure, moss and fern. At the end, through a gla.s.s part.i.tion open in the centre, is a fountain, with similar stands all round it. And--an essential point, whereby we understand the glorious health of all these plants--there is not one which the gardener cannot see perfectly as he goes by, and reach without an effort, saving those overhead in the middle.

No chance of thrips flouris.h.i.+ng unsuspected in this house, nor of slugs following their horrid appet.i.te from pot to pot unnoticed.

Since it is especially the number of rare 'garden mules' which have won us renown, I ought perhaps to say a word in pa.s.sing upon the matter of hybridisation. But what can be said in a few lines? It is a theme for articles and books, even in the hands of a smattering amateur like myself.

The public has no suspicion how far this novel manufacture has been carried already. There is a hint in the tiny volume compiled by Mr. R. H.

Measures 'for private circulation,' showing the number of hybrids in the genus Cypripedium of which he could hear. It contains more than eleven hundred items. Of these we have upwards of eight hundred in our collection. But it must be remembered, in the first place, that there is no authoritative list as yet; each inquirer must get information as he can. In the second place, that the number increases daily. Such a list could be framed only by an international committee of botanists, for in France and Belgium orchid-growers are as enthusiastic as our own; whilst in Germany, Italy, Austria and the United States, if the workers be comparatively few they are very busy.

It has often been suggested that an Orchid Farm would pay handsomely, if established in some well-chosen district of the Tropics and intelligently conducted. A gentleman resident in Oviedo, Florida, Mr. Theodore S. Mead, has carried the notion into practice on a small scale with startling results. I quote from the _Orchid Review_, June 1896:--

'I have built a small platform in the top of a live oak, about 45 feet from the ground ... where I propose to try seeds of some thirty or forty different orchid crosses, including pods from Vanda coerulea and Cattleya citrina, which are thought difficult to manage under gla.s.s...'

In September 1897 we hear further:--

'The season has been a very trying one, and though my orchid-eyrie in the live oak-top promised great success in June, it was very difficult to keep the compost in good condition during the hot, muggy days of July. Still, out of thirty-two crosses planted on a s.p.a.ce of peat, 16 inches long by 12 broad, I obtained plants having first leaf of twenty-two of them--mostly Cattleyas and Laelias;--though a good many died when it was necessary to transplant them, on account of mould and algae threatening to swamp the tiny plants. A single plant of Vanda coerulea V. Amesiana appeared, and is now showing its third leaf. This year I have repeated the cross Bletia verecunda Schomburgkia tibicinis and have several plants in their first leaf; and also one of Bletia verecunda crossed with our native Calopogon pulch.e.l.lus...'

In March 1899:--'... My seed-planting was very successful after June in polypodium fibre (fresh fern mats) in my tree-top eyrie, and from July till October I averaged 500 little hybrids transplanted to pots every month; about one-fourth still survive.... I had an ancient moss-grown magnolia chopped down and cut into slabs, some thirty of which I planted with orchid-seed and kept sprayed. The slabs coming from near the ground scarcely germinated a seed, but those from 20 to 30 feet up yielded from 2 to 3 up to about 150. I also tried oak bark, but while the seeds started promptly they were more subject to disease;... when transplanted to pots nearly all died.

'_Note._--These magnolia slabs were placed in a green-house, not in the "eyrie."'

It is hardly worth while to quote the list of seedlings obtained by Mr.

Mead through crossing plants of the same genus. But here are some successes which, very few years ago, would have been declared flatly impossible--as impossible as a fertile union betwixt cat and dog.

Cattleya amethystoglossa Epidendrum O'Brienianum; a few plants alive.

Cattleya amethystoglossa Epid. radicans; two plants alive.

Schomburgkia undulata Epid. radicans; several plants.

Cattleya Bowringiana Epid. cochleatum; several plants.

Epidendrum nocturnum Epid. osmanthum and Epid. cucullatum, pollen mixed; several plants.

Cattleya Bowringiana Epid. osmanthum (G.o.dseffianum); three plants.

Bletia verecunda Schomburgkia tibicinis; several plants.

Bletia verecunda Calopogon pulch.e.l.lus; one or two plants.

Schomburgkia tibicinis Laelia purpurata; one plant.

The discovery that fertile unions may be concerted between species, and even genera, differing in all visible respects, gives profound interest to the study of hybridisation in the scientific point of view. We have gone so far already that cla.s.sifications which appeared to be unquestionable have been rudely upset. That Laelias and Cattleyas should combine is not surprising, even though one come from North Mexico and the other from South Brazil. But what shall we say when Epidendrums combine with both?--with Sophronitis, Zygopetalum!--nay, with Oncidium!!--with Dendrobium!!! Sobralia proves fertile with Cattleya; so does Sophronitis.

Spathoglottis has been crossed with Bletia and with Phajus. Zygopetalum with Colax, with Oncidium, with Epidendrum, with Odontoglossum.

Schomburgkia with Laelia and Bletia. Combinations even more astonis.h.i.+ng are reported, but for those named there is responsible authority.

I cannot go into detail; these remarks are designed only to call attention to the subject. Not all the bigeneric hybrids mentioned have flowered; and at the present time we have learned enough to be aware that possibly one parent will be ignored by the offspring--that a seedling of Epidendrum crossed with Dendrobium, for example, will bloom a pure Epidendrum or a pure Dendrobium of the species used; which in itself is sufficiently strange. But seedlings have actually been produced in every case which I have named. It is one of the fixed rules in biology that the offspring of different species must be barren--otherwise the parents are not truly species--and that different genera will not breed at all. But in most instances which have been brought to the test as yet, hybrid orchids of different species prove fertile, and some bigeneric crosses yield a progeny at least. What follows? Evidently that the genera or the species are not really distinct--in the cases given. Must we admit, then, that a Dendrobium of the Himalayas (crystallinum) does not differ generically from an Epidendrum of Mexico (radicans)?

This is not the place to argue it out; nor, in truth, would there be much profit in arguing the question while the number of facts to be adduced is still so small that error is not improbable. I hope I have made it clear that the hybridisation of orchids is the most fascinating of botanic studies at this time; which is all I have in view.

But professional 'growers' are not likely to help the cause of science much--no blame to them either. They cannot afford to make experiments which demand a great deal of time, and increasing attention, for years, from the most highly-paid of their staff--too probably remaining a dead loss after no small portion of a lifetime has been spent in bringing the produce to flower. A man of business must make such crosses as are most likely to pay in the shortest time--easy species, big, highly coloured.

Under the best conditions he must wait three to six years, perhaps ten, or even more. Evidently the most valuable hybridisations in a scientific point of view would be those least likely to succeed; all would be doubtful, all would require a long term of years, and most would not 'sell' in the end probably. Such work is for amateurs.

I can mention only a few of the Cypripediums here which seem most notable, and it will always remain dubious whether I have chosen the best examples.

_Bellatulum eximium._--The dorsal is small, low and spreading, white, with carmine specks along the edges, large red-chocolate spots inside. Petals closely depressed, mottled with carmine here and there at the edges, and spotted like the dorsal. Lip insignificant--white with a few small dots.

_Olivia_ (tonsum concolor).--Dorsal white above, changing to pink; base greenish, slenderly feathered with carmine. Petals bowed, flushed with pink, pink lined, dotted with carmine. Slipper pink, deepening to carmine along the front, fading at the toe.

_M. Finet_ (callosum superb.u.m G.o.defroyae).--White with a faint rosy blush. At the base of the dorsal is a greenish tinge, which reappears somewhat stronger on the petals. There are a few specks of crimson on the latter, and a few crimson markings at the top of the slipper.

_Gertrude Hollington_ (ciliolare bellatulum).--A flower of remarkable size. The dorsal is low but exceedingly broad; white, very strongly scored with crimson. Upon the scores stand spots of maroon, and a crimson splash follows the midrib. The great broad petals are white of ground, but obscured at the base by a cloud of crimson-maroon, save the edges. Crimson lines, carrying spots and specks of maroon, overrun the whole. Slipper purplish crimson.

_Macropterum_ (Lowii superbiens).--Dorsal green, darker below. Petals long, curving downwards, greenish at base, heavily spotted; the ends clouded with purple. Slipper large, tawny purple.

_Bellatulum alb.u.m._--The pure white variety of this striking species, so densely spotted in its normal form. It was discovered by Mr. R. Moore when a.s.sistant-Commissioner of the Shan States in 1893. The dorsal is very low, spreading and depressed; the high-shouldered petals clasp the slipper close all round, in such manner that their ends hang below its tip.

Grandly beautiful.

_Baconis_ (chlorops Schlimii).--Very small, rosy. Sepals scored with a brighter hue. They reverse half their length, showing the back of brilliant rose. Slipper carmine.

_H. Ballantine_ (purpuratum Fairieanum).--Dorsal rosy white, ribbed with dark crimson branching lines. Petals greenish, lined, dotted, and edged with coppery crimson. Slipper purple above, green below, handsomely lined with crimson.

_Barbato-bellatulum._--Takes after the latter parent in shape, but all purple; the white-edged dorsal lined and the petals finely spotted with a darker tint.

_Mrs. E. Cohen_ (callosum niveum).--All pinkish white, suffused with crimson, lined with crimson and speckled with purple. Slipper carmine-purple.

_Cardinale_ (Sedenii Schlimii-albiflorum).--Takes its name from the carmine slipper. White in general colour; the petals have a rosy base and rosy tips.

_Chrysocomes_ (caudatum Warcewiczii conchiferum).--Dorsal greenish-yellow, edged with white. Its tip or crest is most extraordinary, hanging forward like a tongue between high jaws curved and serrated. The ochreous-greenish petals have an edging of crimson and an outer edging of white, prettily frilled and gauffered. They twine and twist through a length of ten or twelve inches, showing the crimson reverse.

_Claudii_ (Spicerianum vernixium).--The dorsal is white above, with a strong purple midrib, and a purple flush towards the edge; the base is olive green. Petals olive green, shaded in a darker hue, and tipped with purple. The slipper purple above, green below.

_Beeckmanii_ (Boxalli sup. bellatulum).--The yellow-green dorsal is broadly margined in its upper part with white, and marked profusely with large crimson-brown spots. The petals are depressed, spreading like wings, of madder-purple hue, lined and spotted, the lower margin greenish.

Slipper dark purple, with a greenish toe.

_Bellatulum egregium._--Doubtless a natural hybrid. The depressed dorsal is pale green, spotted with pink in lines. Petals and slipper white above, pale greenish below, with large pink spots all over. A most remarkable variety.

_Brownii_ (leucorrhodum longifl. magnific.u.m).--The dorsal takes a very singular form. Narrow and almost rectangular, it is sharply constricted towards the top, then widens out again like the ace of spades. The colour is white, touched with green and rose. Petals long, narrow, with an edging of carmine, and outer edging of white; as they reverse towards the tip the colour is all rose. Big broad slipper, rosy, prettily spotted with carmine on the white lining.

_Antigone_ (Lawrenceanum niveum).--The big dorsal sepal is pink with a white border. Strong branching ribs of crimson spring from a base of vivid green and form a network. The drooping petals show a deeper pink, with similar lines and maroon specks; as does the slipper.

_H. Hannington_ (villosum fascinator).--The great dorsal bears a purple mauve cloud within its broad white margin, changing to dusky green at the base and scored with branching lines of somewhat darker mauve. Petals and lip greenish ochre, frilled and s.h.i.+ning, lined with brown in dots.

_Hector_ (Leeanum var. Sallierii var.)--Dorsal white with a greenish-blue centre, traversed by dull brown lines. Petals yellow at the base, set with a quant.i.ty of short, stiff black hairs; changing to ochreous dun, the upper half bearing a dusky brownish network. Lip of the same dusky hue.

_Myra_ (Chamberlainianum Haynaldianum).--Tall, graceful in form as in colouring. The long narrow dorsal is pale green, edged with white. At the base is a patch of dusky chocolate and spots of the same tone run upward in lines. The pale-green petals, narrow and rectangular, bear a few large dun blotches outlined with chocolate; their tips reverse, showing a faint mauve tint.

_Aphrodite superb.u.m_ (niveum Lawrenceanum).--The same parentage reversed; as usual the produce is quite dissimilar. Its colour is white, purple-tinged except the margin, overlaid with a crimson network of dots.

Another example from the same seed-pod has a palest pink network instead of crimson, and tiny dots of maroon. It looks like the ghost of its sister.

_Arnoldiae_ (bellatulum superciliare).--Whitish, with bold spots of crimson-brown arranged in lines upon the dorsal. Slipper purple-lake above, greenish below.