The Manchester Show of Orchids, June, 1881.—The display of Orchids at the Manchester Exhibition was a very fine one, and no Orchid grower should have missed the sight. The specimens were truly marvellous, especially the sixteen plants shown by R. Dodgson, Esq., of Blackburn, amongst which were a Vanda suavis with about a dozen flower-spikes; Lælia purpurata and Cattleya Warneri, both wonderful specimens, as also was Masdevallia Harryana; Cypripedium barbatum superbum which had a hundred blooms upon it, and was not made up for the occasion, but had been grown on from a single plant; and Dendrobium Wardianum which was a magnificent plant. Great credit is due to Mr. Osman for his talent, in successfully cultivating so fine a collection. G. Hardy, Esq., of Timperley, exhibited some wonderful plants, especially of Cattleyas, Lælias, Dendrobium thyrsiflorum, Oncidium Marshallianum, Odontoglossum vexillarium, &c. R. F. Ainsworth, Esq., M.D., also exhibited some fine specimens, especially Vanda suavis, Aërides Fieldingii, and A. Schröderii; these three are most extraordinary plants, and have been grown in the collection for eighteen years, which is a sufficient proof of what can be done by perseverance, and, moreover, gives one an idea how well Orchids can be grown and exhibited for many successive years. We have known these three specimens to be shown at the Manchester exhibitions and elsewhere for the past ten or fifteen years, and they are now in the finest possible condition, as they have always been, under the successful management of Mr. Mitchell. There were besides, other exhibitors whose specimens were well worthy of note.—B. S. W.
PL. 5. MASDEVALLIA SHUTTLEWORTHII.
MASDEVALLIA SHUTTLEWORTHII.
[[Plate 5].]
Native of the United States of Colombia.
Epiphytal. Rhizome slender, slowly creeping. Leaves crowded, petiolate, the petiole with a sheathing scale at the base, the blade about equalling the petiole, two to three inches long, elliptic-oblong, acute, pale green, obscurely three to five-nerved. Scapes numerous, slender, as long as or longer than the petioles, green, with an ovate acuminate appressed bract at the top. Flowers yellowish, tinted with rose, rather large for the size of the plant; the perianth tube very short and swollen at the base; dorsal sepal of a pale yellowish red, indistinctly dotted with pale rosy red spots, and marked with from five to seven (or nine according to Reichenbach) longitudinal wine-coloured nerves, fully an inch long, sub-erect, concave or somewhat hooded, obovate, suddenly contracted into a tail two or three times its own length, the tail green below and becoming orange-yellow towards the tip; lateral sepals obliquely ovate, spreading, and decurved, thickly studded with deep red spots, and tapering off into a tail similar to that of the dorsal sepal; petals small, linear-oblong or ligulate, bilobed at the apex; lip very small, broadly oblong, recurved at the tip, with two keels or ridges running down the centre. Column short, three-toothed at the apex.
Masdevallia Shuttleworthii, Reichenbach fil. in Gardeners’ Chronicle, N.S. iii., 170; Hooker fil., Botanical Magazine, t. 6372.
Of this interesting plant, one of a popular genus inhabiting the cool temperate humid regions of Northern and Western South America, Professor Reichenbach, by whom it was dedicated to Mr. Shuttleworth, one of Mr. W. Bull’s collectors, remarks that it is “rather a nice thing amongst Masdevallias of the second order of beauty.” It was first flowered in 1878 by W. H. Punchard, Esq., of Poulett Lodge, Twickenham. Our figure was prepared from a plant which has bloomed in our own collection recently. We find it to be a very free-blooming species.
The Masdevallias comprise many interesting species and varieties, some of very remarkable structure, and others with colours of extraordinary richness and brilliancy. Our present subject is not one of the most showy, but it may be ranked with the more curious of the species, and is certainly of a distinct and pleasing character, as is well represented in our Plate. The plant was discovered by Mr. Shuttleworth, when travelling for Mr. Bull, and by him it was first transmitted to Europe. Since then we have received it from the same country through our own collector, Mr. Carder. The Masdevallias are plentiful in their native habitats, but the difficulty of obtaining them in this country lies in the risks attending importation, which are mainly attributable to the fact that they have no thick fleshy bulbs to support them during their journey. We have heard of thousands of plants of this particular species having been sent off, but of these comparatively few have been received alive, so that unless some more successful means of introducing them into England can be found, it will always remain a rare plant.
Masdevallia Shuttleworthii is of free-blooming habit, and the flowers last a long time in perfection. It generally blossoms during the spring and summer months. The plants require but little room, as the foliage is of neat growth, and the whole height of the plant does not exceed from six to eight inches. The leaves are of a dark green colour and firm texture. The flower-scapes proceed from the young growth, and attain the height of about eight inches, the more conspicuous spreading long-tailed sepals being of a pleasing yellowish rose colour thickly marked with wine-red spots, while the petals and lip are small and inconspicuous.