BURLINGTONIA CANDIDA.
[[Plate 18].]
Native of Demerara.
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs elliptic-oblong, compressed, monophyllous. Leaves evergreen, broadish oblong, acute, somewhat channelled. Racemes pendulous, issuing from the base of the pseudobulbs, three to five-flowered. Flowers two and a half inches long, white, semitransparent, with a delightful violet-like fragrance; sepals projected forwards in the plane of the lip, the dorsal one obovate-oblong, emarginate, the anterior one bifid, linear-oblong, about half the length of the lip, curved sharply forwards, and channelled so as to closely invest the spur of the lip; petals parallel with the sepals and lip, obovate, oblique, the base encircling the column, spreading at the apex; lip parallel with the column, with a channelled claw, dilated and bilobed in front, cuneate below, decorated in the centre with a yellow bar, the disk furnished with four or five yellowish lamellæ on each side, of which the anterior ones are longer, the spur short, enclosed in the anterior sepal. Column smooth, slender, clavate, with two fleshy teeth at the apex.
Burlingtonia candida, Lindley, Botanical Register, t. 1927; Id. Paxton’s Flower Garden, i. 158; Rand’s Orchids, 179; Floral Magazine, t. 548.
Rodriquezia candida, Bateman in litteris; Reichenbach fil., in Walpers’ Annales Botanices Systematicæ, vi., 695.
The genus Burlingtonia was dedicated to the amiable and accomplished Countess of Burlington, and contains a few small-growing but very beautiful species, which come mostly from Brazil. The plant now under notice, which was the earliest introduction, and the type of the genus, was imported from Demerara, in British Guiana, so long since as 1834, by James Bateman, Esq., now a veteran in the study and cultivation of Orchids. It is consequently well-known to the growers and collectors of this class of plants.
As a subject for growing in a basket suspended from the roof, this species has few, if any, equals. When grown in this way, the pendent spikes of white flowers hanging over the sides of the basket produce a charming and distinct appearance.
The plant is compact-growing, and, like all the species of Burlingtonia, is evergreen. The pendent flower-spikes are produced from the sides of the pseudobulbs, and each bear from four to six flowers, which are white, marked with yellow in the throat, and have a slight but pleasant odour of violets.
Burlingtonia candida should be grown in the Cattleya-house, in a basket or pan, suspended from the roof. Sphagnum moss, with a good drainage composed of crocks, is the best material for its roots, and the bulbs should be well elevated above the rim of the pan or basket. This plant delights in a plentiful supply of water at the roots—in fact, it should never be allowed to get dry, as it requires but little rest. It is propagated by division of the pseudobulbs.
Few insects attack this plant. The scale is the most frequent intruder, and this is easily removed by the use of a sponge and clean water.
Ferguslie House, Paisley.—We have been in the habit of visiting the gardens of T. Coates, Esq., for many years past, and have always been surprised to see the Orchids grown by Mr. Thompson, the gardener who has charge of them. There is no house specially devoted to the cultivation of this class of plants, but they are grown in different houses intermixed with stove-flowering plants, foliage plants, and ferns, and in no instance have we seen East Indian Orchids grown to greater perfection. We have from time to time witnessed the progress of the specimens we are about to enumerate—in fact, we have seen them grown on from quite small plants purchased some ten or twelve years ago, and the size to which they have attained during this time, viz., up to the first week in September, 1881, will no doubt astonish some of our readers, and convince them it is not true that Orchids cannot be cultivated unless they have houses set apart for their especial benefit. In order to show the error of this conclusion, we will name a few of the Specimens that we saw growing on one side of a span-roofed house, with stove plants on the centre stage. Aërides suavissimum, grown from a small plant, is now a fine specimen three feet high, having four stems, and in perfect health, the foliage reaching down to the pot; it bore twenty spikes of its long racemes of flowers, many of them having thirty-seven flowers on a spike, and was one of the most beautiful objects that have come under our notice. There is also another plant produced from the same specimen, bearing twelve spikes of its lovely blossoms, which were in full beauty. A. Warnerii is a well-grown specimen, having several stems two to three feet in height, and this blooms freely every year. A. virens, is also a fine plant, with three stems three feet in height. A. affine is a wonderful specimen of good cultivation; it is generally of slow growth, but in this case it has not proved so. A. crispum again, is well cultivated, having two stems nearly three feet high, and perfect, and there is also a second plant of the same, three feet in height. A. Fieldingii is a fine specimen. Vanda tricolor, a well-furnished plant, and V. suavis four feet high, with three stems, are both beautifully grown. A plant of the curious long-tailed Angræcum sesquipedale, from eighteen inches to two feet in height, has four stems, and is undoubtedly the best grown specimen we have seen. Phalænopsis Schilleriana, a good specimen, with seven of its beautifully-marked leaves, is growing suspended over the centre table. There are other choice Orchids, such as Cypripediums, Cœlogynes, &c. We also noticed, grown in two other houses, intermixed with various plants, beautiful specimens of Lælia Turnerii, L. elegans, L. anceps, Cattleya Trianæ, and others. There are also well-grown examples of Calanthe Masuca, of Dendrobium, and other good Orchids; but space will not admit of these being here enumerated.—B. S. W.