The Woodlands Orchids Part 20

_Dauthierii albino._--A wonderful sport. Up the gra.s.s-green dorsal, edged with white above, run strong lines of darker tone. The petals, very narrow at base, are yellowish green, suffused and lined with copper above, paler below. The slipper shows similar colouring.

On the same plant, open at the same time, but from another stem, was a flower of the common Dauthierii type. Still more remarkable, one year this second stem bore a flower of which half the dorsal was pale yellow, the other half coppery green, as is usual, thus betraying a futile inclination to rival its albino sister. The petals were scarcely affected, however.

_Dauthierii marmoratum._--Another abnormal form. The point of the dorsal, and the high shoulders, are white, the rest crimson-maroon. From the point descend three or four broad lines, or long splashes, of green, with striking effect. The petals are marbled longitudinally with purple on a dusky ground. The lip is dull, dusky crimson.

_Lord Derby_ (Rothschildianum superbiens).--An immense flower--the grand dorsal rosy white, tinged with pale green in the middle, pale purple on either hand, dark lines circling upward over all. The petals, outlined with purple at the base, change to pale green, almost to white, below and at the tips. Great spots of darkest crimson stud the whole. Slipper maroon, greenish at the toe.

_Evenor_ (Argus bellatulum).--Ground-colour throughout ochreous yellow.

The dorsal has a purplish base and maroon lines of dots. Broad round petals, closely spotted with maroon. Slipper purplish above, ochre below.

_Excelsior_ (Rothschildianum Harrisianum).--Dorsal long, high-shouldered, greenish, with darkest crimson edging lines of the same tint, and white margin. Petals depressed, of a like green, crimson along the upper edge, covered with the heavy spots and hairs of Rothschildianum.

Slipper very long, dull crimson.

_Engelhardtiae_ (insigne Maulei Spicerianum).--The dorsal has very broad shoulders, narrowing to a wasp-waist, where the upper white changes abruptly to bright green, spotted with pink. A strong crimson line runs from base to tip. Petals so evenly curved downwards that they seem to make a half-circle, coppery yellow in hue, handsomely gauffered on the upper edge, and lined with copper colour. Immensely wide lip, coppery ochre with a bright green lining.

_Edwardii_ (superbiens Fairieanum).--Dorsal long, white-edged, stained at the margin with purplish crimson and lined with the same. Short narrow petals, very strongly bowed, greenish, edged throughout with purplish crimson. Slipper green at toe, coppery above.

_Fairieanum._--No orchid is so interesting as this in the point of view which may be called historic. In the autumn of 1857, Mr. Reid of Burnham and Mr. Parker, nursery-man, of Holloway, sent flowers of it to Sir W.

Hooker at Kew, asking what they might be. Shortly afterwards Mr. Fairie of Liverpool showed a plant in flower at the R.H.S. meeting, and Dr. Lindley named it after him. It is believed that all these plants were bought at Stevens' Sale-rooms among a number of orchids forwarded from a.s.sam. But none have turned up since, and attempts to find the habitat have been totally unsuccessful.

Those who expect to see a flower big in proportion to its fame will be disappointed; but if small, indeed very small, Cyp. Fairieanum is striking both in form and colour. The upstanding dorsal has a crest, from which the sides curl back. Its ground-colour is white with a greenish tinge. Broad lines of maroon fall downwards from the crest, lessening as they go, but multiplying towards the edges, where they form a close network. The petals curl as sharply as a cow's horn, inverted at the tips to show a maroon lining; they are greenish above, with three sharp little maroon bars at the base, and slender lines of maroon; maroon also is the narrow edging.

The s.h.i.+eld of the column, small as it is, cannot be overlooked, for it s.h.i.+nes like a jewel--exquisitely mottled with the brightest green, accentuated by a tiny arch of maroon on either side. Slipper greenish, with blurred lines of maroon.

_Gertrude_ (Chamberlainianum insigne Chantinii).--Dorsal white above, bright green below, heavily dotted in lines with crimson-brown. Petals finely gauffered, dusky crimson, spotted. The slipper, crimson-purple, looks very bright by contrast.

_Tesselatum porphyreum_ (concolor barbatum).--The pale ochreous tone of one parent and the purple of the other have produced a very remarkable result in combination. The general effect distinctly red. The round dorsal is reddish above, of a deeper shade at base, with dotted lines of red; the petals curve down, dark red at the base, fading towards the ends, which are clothed in a pretty network of pale red. The green slipper is clouded and netted over with crimson.

_Telemachus_ (niveum Lawrenceanum).--The dorsal, very broad, is tinged with purple in the centre. Crimson lines ascend from a green base and the margin all round is white. The petals are green, changing to purple, with darker lines and spots. Slipper crimson.

_Tautzianum lepidum_ (niveum barbatum Warneri).--A rosy flower, covered throughout with lines and network of crimson. The lip darker.

_Georges Truffaut_ (ciliolare Stonei).--Very large. The tall dorsal has crimson edges and lines, greenish centre. The twisted petals--greenish, with crimson lines, very large maroon spots and crimson-purple tips--hang loosely. An enormous slipper, all crimson-brown.

_Mrs. E. G. Uihlein_ (villosum aureum Leeanum giganteum).--The dorsal rises to a point between shoulders perfectly square, white, with a heavy slash of copper from base to crest; the centre greenish-coppery, with lines and mottling of pale crimson. Petals green in the upper half, clouded and lined with copper; paler below. Slipper similar.

_Venustum_ (Measures variety).--A remarkable sport. Small. The white dorsal is striped with clear green lines, rising from a green cloud at the base. The ochreous copper petals have a green base. Slipper the same, covered with a pretty green network.

_Watsonianum_ (Harrisianum nigrum concolor).--The white crested dorsal shows a crimson line in the centre, green on either side, crimson towards the edges. The petals, dark green at base, fade to a paler tint, and the ends are crimson; all softly lined with crimson. Slipper maroon.

_Woodlandsense_ (Dayanum Javanic.u.m virens).--Among the rare Cypripeds in this collection, I have noted several of which the dorsal sepal bore a cap, elaborate as eccentric in shape. But this is most singular of all.

Between the point of the dorsal and the shoulder is a process which I can only describe in architectural language as a volute reversed; an addition so abnormal and inexplicable that I really find nothing to say about it.

In other respects the dorsal is striking--handsomely rounded, white with a rosy margin, the vivid green at the base not fading softly but abrupt almost as a splash; petals the same vivid green, with maroon spots and a stain of copper at the ends. The rosy stamenode shows well upon this ground. Slipper pale green, with a pleasing network of copper.

_Zeus_ (tonsum Boxallii).--The white globular dorsal rises from a very slender green waist, with a broad dark-crimson line up the centre. Petals dark coppery in the upper half, pale below. Slipper dusky.

_Annie Measures_ (bellatulum Dayanum).--Dorsal yellowish, outlined white, covered with slender purple lines and dots. Large smooth petals, netted over with small crimson dots in a pattern. Slipper narrow, dull crimson above, white toe.

_Frau Ida Brandt_ (Io grande Youngianum).--The large dorsal, white at the edges, is suffused with green and purple; the long petals, green and purple, are depressed. Heavy spots of crimson-brown, furnished with stiff hairs, cover them. Handsomely reversed at the tip. Slipper greenish-coppery.

_Adrastus_ (Leeanum Boxallii).--Here the large white dorsal with green base is heavily blotched with red-brown in the centre, lightly at the sides. The closely drooping petals, yellowish green, have the upper half splashed and mottled with a lively brown almost obscuring the ground-colour, which reappears in the lower half. Lip green at toe, coppery above.

_Athos_ (parentage unknown) has an odd colouring--ochreous-green sepals, outlined with white and profusely dotted with brown; petals bright ochre, the upper length scored with lines of raw sienna. The lip similar.

_Arthurianum pulch.e.l.lum_ (Fairieanum insigne Chantinii).--The green dorsal is thickly dotted all over with brown; the tip falls over, showing its white underside. Petals depressed, greenish, charmingly frilled, clouded and lined with copper-brown above, spotted with copper below.

Slipper greenish, handsomely veined and marbled in a soft coppery tone.

_Astraea_ (laevigatum Spicerianum).--Dorsal white, with a pale green base, whence a heavy radius, maroon in colour, mounts to the tip; petals narrow, loosely hanging, greenish at base, crimson-purple through most of their length, marked with red lines. Slipper greenish, stained with purple.

_Aurantiac.u.m_ (venustum insigne aureum).--Ochreous-green dorsal, its square top broadly crowned with white, spotted below with brownish-red; petals darker, similarly spotted. The slipper harmonises.

_Cleopatra_ (Hookerae aenanthum superb.u.m).--A striking flower--deep glossy crimson, ribbed with a darker hue. On the upper length of the petals are heavy warts; the lower has a greenish tawny stain at base, like the slipper.

_Lily Measures_ (Dayanum niveum).--The dorsal is white, daintily flushed, with green base. Lines of red dots ascend from it, growing smaller and fainter as they rise. Such lines form a pleasing network on the petals, which have a yellowish smear at the base. The slipper corresponds.

_Lawrebel_ (Lawrenceanum bellatulum).--A grand and gorgeous hybrid. The green patch at the base of the dorsal is promptly swallowed up by a crimson cloud, which again fades into a delicious mottling of crimson on a white ground. The petals are vivid green above, paler below, both changing to crimson at the tips. Slipper yellowish at the edge and the toe, crimson between.

_Lawrebel_ (Woodlands variety) shows the difference of colour so often found among seedlings of the same parentage and the same 'batch.' Here the crimson is by no means so bright, in fact purplish, but it covers nearly the whole surface of the dorsal, and what remains is not white but green.

On the petals also, which are broader, green occupies nearly all the s.p.a.ce, though less vivid, and the crimson of the tips almost disappears.

They are heavily spotted with maroon. Slipper dusky purple, netted over with maroon.

_La France_ (nitens niveum).--White and very graceful. The only trace of colour appears in broad pink spots at the base of the dorsal, and smaller spots, more profuse, at the base of the petals. On the slipper they are smaller still, set along the edge.

_Lawrenceanum-Hyeanum_ has a broad white dorsal, clouded with green at the base, and marked with handsome green lines. The narrow petals stand out firmly, vivid green, with lines of a deeper shade. The slipper also is green but pale. Another example is very much larger.

_Lawrenceanum Sir Trevor._--This is no hybrid, but a wonderful variety of the species. The dorsal strangely broad and depressed--squat in fact.

White in colour, with superb green lines mounting from the green cloud below, it sits tight over the rectangular petals of dark but vivid green, marked with deeper lines. The slipper is yellowish-green.

_Leucochilum giganteum_ (a.s.sumed to be a hybrid of G.o.defroyae bellatulum).--A compact flower, of which the three parts seem equal in size. White, with a faint ochreous tinge; covered throughout, saving the margin, with crimson spots, which form almost a blotch in the midst of the dorsal. Slipper small and white.

_Leysenianum_ (barbatum Crossii bellatulum).--The dorsal is very handsome and striking, bright crimson at top, fading to a dusky base, lined with crimson. The clinging petals, tawny green in the upper length, are washed with crimson in the lower; all profusely spotted with maroon.

Slipper dull crimson.

_Mrs. Fred Hardy_ (superbiens bellatulum).--A very dainty hybrid. The dorsal, white with a greenish centre, is covered with interlacing crimson lines dotted with maroon, saving the clear margin. The petals almost form a semi-circle, greenish with a white edge, netted over with pale crimson and dotted with maroon in lines. The slipper greenish, with a pretty pink network round the upper part.

_Holidayanum_ (concolor almum).--Excepting a narrow white margin the dorsal is bright crimson, darkening towards the greenish base; petals greenish, with edges and dotted lines of crimson. Slipper dull crimson, with yellowish toe.

_Hirsuto-Sallierii._--The upper half of the dorsal is white, the lower clear yellow-green, the whole covered with antlered lines of gra.s.s-green; petals yellow-green, finely frilled, tipped with palest purple. Pale purple and greenish also is the slipper.

_Mrs. Herbert Measures_ (Lathamianum Leeanum giganteum).--The great dorsal, yellow tinged with purple, has the shape of a flattened peg-top. A broad splash of maroon bisects it. The cinnamon-coloured petals are flushed with red, and lined with the same tint; the midrib is maroon.

Slipper abnormally wide, purplish.

_Javanic.u.m._--A species, named from its habitat. Small and solidly green save the white crest of the dorsal, and the pale purple tips of the narrow petals. Such strong and decided colouring makes it useful to the hybridiser.

_Measuresianum_ (villosum venustum).--The small triangular dorsal, white, is evenly striped with green; petals yellow-green, with a gra.s.s-green base and emerald lines from end to end. The slipper shows a charming network of vivid green on a tawny yellow ground.

_Marchioness of Salisbury_ (bellatulum barbatum superb.u.m, Sander's variety).--Dorsal hollow, broadly crimson all round the margin, dusky white inside, striped with crimson and speckled with maroon. Petals closely depressed, white, with a shade of green above, of crimson below, dotted with maroon. Slipper tawny crimson, with clouding of the same.

_Marshallianum_ (venustum-pardinum concolor).--Unique in effect. Dorsal and petals ochreous white, with a faint crimson flush; all densely covered with minute crimson dots. Slipper of a yellow almost bright.