PAPHINIA CRISTATA.
[[Plate 34].]
Native of Trinidad and Guiana.
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs small, clustered, oblong-ovate, compressed, somewhat furrowed, bearing one to three leaves at the apex, and leaf-like scales at the base. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, plicate, submembranaceous, spreading, about eight inches in height. Scapes proceeding from the base of the pseudobulbs, pendent, two or three-flowered, clothed with loose brown membranaceous bracts. Flowers smooth, spreading, whitish on the outside, beautifully marked with purple lines within, about three and a half inches across; sepals lanceolate acute, fleshy, pale straw colour, almost entirely covered by thin transverse lines of chocolate-purple; petals similar in form and colour, but somewhat narrower; lip much smaller than the foregoing, fleshy, tripartite, almost entirely of a rich purplish black, ovate in outline, shortly unguiculate, with four stalked glands on the reddish orange purple-spotted claw, the lateral lobes sickle-shaped, the middle lobe rhomboidal, terminated by a tuft of club-shaped fimbriæ; disk crested, bidentate, with a few deep yellow spots down the centre. Column club-shaped, semiterete, greenish at the base, the upper portion auriculate, with a projecting tooth on each side, deep yellow.
Paphinia cristata, Lindley, Botanical Register, 1843, misc. 14; Lyons, Treatise on Orchidaceous Plants, 203; Van Houtte, Flore des Serres, iv., t. 335; Hooker, Botanical Magazine, t. 4836; Reichenbach fil., in Walpers’ Annales Botanices Systematicæ, vi., 614; Williams, Orchid Grower’s Manual, 5 ed., 265; Bateman, 2nd Century of Orchidaceous Plants, t. 117.
Maxillaria cristata, Lindley, Botanical Register, t. 1811.
Paphinia is a genus of very limited extent, and of which but few species are at present known. That now before us is a very old and familiar species, one of the best known amongst them, and a singularly handsome little plant. It was the Maxillaria cristata of early Orchid days, and considerable quantities of it were formerly imported, but it has now become very rare. We have flowered several plants during the past year at the Victoria Nursery, where they were greatly admired by those who saw them. It is a plant which comparatively few persons interested in Orchids have met with in blossom, and of which our plate gives a very correct representation. The flowers are remarkably curious, not only for their structure, but also for their colouring, as will be seen by reference to our illustration. The plant has, moreover, a very peculiar mode of throwing out its flower-spikes.
We have also flowered Paphinia rugosa, another very singular and pretty plant, after the same style, but differing in colour, and well worth cultivation. They occupy but little space in the Orchid-houses, and are best grown in small pans suspended near the glass where they have the full benefit of the light, but must be shaded from the sun since their thin-textured leaves would suffer injury from too complete an exposure.
Paphinia cristata, is a low-growing plant, with small shiny pseudobulbs, and light green plicate foliage about eight inches in height. It is a free-blooming species, generally producing three flowers on a scape which proceeds from the base of the pseudobulb after that has completed its growth. The flowers last in beauty for about a fortnight, and are produced at different periods of the year. The sepals and petals are nearly covered with transverse parallel lines of dark chocolate-purple on a creamy yellow ground; the lip is coloured in a similar manner, and furnished with some curious tufted fringes.
These plants are not so easy to cultivate as some other Orchids; but, by bestowing on them a little extra care and attention, they may be kept in a thriving and healthy condition. We find them to grow best in small pans, nearly filled with drainage, and a lump of charcoal on the top of it; place the plant on the top of this with but little rough fibrous peat or live sphagnum moss about the roots, and so that it is elevated a little above the rim, as it has the peculiarity of throwing its flower-spike downwards.
This species is a native of Guiana, and of the adjacent island of Trinidad. In the latter it is found growing on decayed branches of trees in the neighbourhood of the mud lake. In the former it occurs in the warmer parts of Demerara, and, consequently, must be cultivated in the warm house, and kept in a moist atmosphere during the season of its growth; when at rest, however, a smaller quantity of water will suffice, but it should never be allowed to shrivel, as, when once its condition becomes bad, it is very difficult to restore its health.
Odontoglossum Alexandræ flaveolum.—Whoever expected ten years ago to see a yellow-flowered Odontoglossum Alexandræ (?) No one, we should think, unless it were by a great stretch of the imagination. However, here is one from the fine collection of G. Hardy, Esq., of Timperley, Manchester. The flowers in every respect resemble those of O. Alexandræ, except in their colour, which is a bright canary-yellow. The spike before us bears fifteen expanded flowers, and is one of the greatest surprises we have had the good fortune to meet with for a long time. It is true that distinct varieties of this “the Queen of Orchids” are turning up almost every day, but one seldom has a chance of seeing an entirely new break of colour of this sort. We believe that a variety with yellow flowers bloomed some time ago in the Broomfield collection, but the colour was not so decided in Mr. Warner’s plant as it is in the case now before us.—B. S. W.