PL. 72. MILTONIA REGNELLI PURPUREA.
MILTONIA REGNELLI PURPUREA.
[[Plate 72].]
Native of Brazil.
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs ovate, obtuse, compressed, diphyllous. Leaves lorate, acute, narrowed to the base, pale green, about a foot long. Scapes bearing three or four large showy flowers, each with a small bract at the base of its pedicel. Flowers showy, larger than in the type, being nearly three inches across; sepals lanceolate, about an inch and one-fourth in length, of a delicate shade of rosy pink, paler almost white at the edges, and with a darker median line; petals oblong, somewhat broader than the sepals and similar in colour; lip flat, subpandurate, broad, one and a half inch across, emarginate at the apex, cuneate at the base, of an intense magenta-crimson, marked with indistinct reticulations of deeper crimson; the disk white, and furnished with three small elevated crests, of which the middle one is shorter. Column deep crimson at the base, whitish at the apex.
Miltonia Regnelli purpurea, Hort. Veitch; Williams, Orchid Grower’s Manual, 4 ed., 209; 5 ed., 224; Floral Magazine, t. 490.
The Miltonias form a small genus allied to Odontoglossum and containing some beautiful species and varieties, most of which have been inmates of our stoves and Orchid houses for many years. We remember some of them as long as we have had the management of Orchids, which is now for forty years, but even before that time there were large specimens cultivated in some old-established gardens, such as those at Bothwell Castle, where may now be found many fine plants of M. spectabilis and its variety, Moreliana, which have been grown by Mr. Turnbull, the gardener, for more than forty years. M. Clowesii and M. candida have been in cultivation for quite as long a period. We mention these facts to show to the present generation of Orchid-growers that they should not complain as they are apt to do, that these plants are difficult to cultivate. This is not the case, in witness whereof these grand old plants, which have been grown, as above stated, for so many years, without much care having been bestowed upon them, may be cited. In the collection above referred to, for example, they do not profess to cultivate Orchids specially, but grow them in the ordinary plant stoves. Surely the cultivators of the present day should have no difficulty in attaining the same degree of success. We have seen M. spectabilis as much as three feet across, one mass of bloom, a sight never to be forgotten. We do hope that Miltonias will be more grown than they are at present, as they come into flower at a time when comparatively few Orchids are in bloom, and keep on flowering during the autumn months. They will be found useful for cutting purposes, as well as for our autumn exhibitions. What, for example, could be more lovely than the plant of M. spectabilis, shown by A. Paul, Esq., at the Edinburgh Exhibition, in September of the present year?
The variety we now illustrate is a most beautiful one, and differs considerably from the type. We are indebted to the kindness of Mr. B. Findlay, of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Manchester, for the opportunity of figuring this gem, which was imported by him. Mr. Findley is a great lover of Orchids, and has a nicely grown collection of them, amongst which flowering specimens may be seen at all times of the year. This, Miltonia Regnelli purpurea, is much richer in its colouring than the original species. It is evergreen, with light green pseudobulbs and foliage, which, together, reach to about ten inches or a foot in height. It produces its flower spikes from the sides of the pseudobulbs after they have completed their growth, which is during August or September. The sepals and petals are delicate rose colour, margined with white; the lip intense crimson-purple, with white crests.
This plant, we repeat, is of easy cultivation and blooms very freely, when grown in a mixture of rough fibrous peat and sphagnum moss, with good drainage. Our experience points to the coolest end of the East India house as the best position in which to grow it; but we have also found it to do well in the Cattleya house. It is necessary to bear in mind that the plant must be shaded from the burning sun, for it has thin leaves which are easily affected by the sun’s rays; all the light possible should however be given. It will do well either in a pot or basket, and should not receive too much moisture at the roots, as Miltonias frequently suffer if too much water is given them. The soil must be kept freely moistened during the growing season, the supply of water being decreased when the season of rest approaches.
Odontoglossum grande.—C. Walker, Esq., Brettargh Holt, Westmoreland, sends us a grand spike of a fine variety of this, the king of Odontoglots. The spike bore six of its enormous flowers, and was much the finest we remember to have seen. Our artist has made a sketch of this spike, and we hope to publish it at some future time—H. W.
