CŒLIA BELLA.
[[Plate 51].]
Native of Guatemala.
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs roundish-ovate, sub-compressed, pale green, the older ones oblong-ovate. Leaves of a light green colour, about ten inches in height, three or four from the top of the pseudobulb, narrow ensiform acuminate, plicate, five-ribbed, convolutely sheathing at the base. Scape radical, short, clothed with bifarious sheathing bracts, four to seven-flowered. Flowers of moderate size, tricoloured, emitting a very sweet odour, the perianth tubular below, funnel-shaped above, the bracteoles oblong, obliquely dimidiate; sepals and petals similar, somewhat fleshy in texture, creamy white tipped with magenta-rose, the upper sepal shorter, oblong obtuse, terminating abruptly at the pedicel, the lateral ones produced behind into a blunt spur adnate to the base of the column; lip yellow, produced at the base, and abruptly replicate, forming a cucullate cavity enclosed within the spur, oblong, three-lobed, the lateral lobes short quadrate, the middle lobe linguiform acute, with a large fleshy orange-coloured convex callosity occupying the disk. Column white, broadly cuneate, three-toothed at the apex.
Cœlia bella, Reichenbach fil., in Walpers’ Annales Botanices Systematicæ, vi., 218; Hooker fil., Botanical Magazine, t. 6628.
Bifrenaria bella, Lemaire, Jardin Fleuriste, iii., t. 325.
Bothriochilus bellus, Lemaire, L’Illustration Horticole, iii., 30.
We have in this plant a representative of a small genus of Orchids, few of the species of which are worthy of cultivation. That now before us is, however, a very pretty and curious plant, as will be seen by a glance at our plate. We believe that Cœlia bella was introduced about thirty years ago by the Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney, but at the present time it is extremely scarce. Lemaire, by whom it was described and figured in 1853, in the volume of Jardin Fleuriste above quoted, states that it was introduced about the same period, from the Island of St. Catherine’s, to the Belgian Gardens, by M. Ambroise Verschaffelt, through his collector, M. F. Devos, but Sir Joseph Hooker has recently pointed out that there are specimens of it in Lindley’s Herbarium, collected in Guatemala by Mr. Skinner, and that, like its congeners, it is probably a native of Central America. For the opportunity of preparing our figure, we are indebted to the courtesy of J. C. Bowring, Esq., Forest Farm, Windsor Forest, by whom it is flowered freely every year.
Cœlia bella is a compact-growing evergreen plant, with small globose or ovoid pseudobulbs of a light green colour. The ensiform foliage is also light green, and grows about ten inches high. The flower-spikes proceed from the base of the pseudobulbs, and produce four to seven funnel-shaped flowers on each spike. The sepals and petals are of a creamy white hue, tipped with rich magenta, while the lip is yellow, the whole perianth being very thick and fleshy in texture. The plant produces its blossoms during the autumn months, and succeeds well if cultivated in a pot with plenty of good drainage; fibrous peat should be used for potting, and a liberal supply of water should be given during the growing season, which is just after the flowering period.
The temperature of the Cattleya house will be found to suit this Cœlia, or it may be grown in a moist stove. We have often seen plants of this kind do better in a house wherein miscellaneous stove plants are grown than in the Orchid house, which we believe is owing to their obtaining under these conditions more moisture and light, two things in which most Orchids delight. We mention this in order that cultivators may know and understand that there are various Orchids which can be grown, and grown well, in company with other subjects in an ordinary plant stove. We ourselves have found that many of the species do best in a house where such plants as Crotons, &c., are grown. Dendrobiums especially like this treatment, under which the bulbs attain much larger dimensions, and become better ripened. It is quite an erroneous idea that Orchids all require special houses for their successful cultivation. This certainly is not the case, as some of the finest Cattleyas, Vandas, Dendrobes, Phalænopsis, &c., that we have ever met with, have been cultivated in ordinary plant stoves, where they get a little shade from the burning rays of the sun.
Cattleya Warnerii.—A well-bloomed plant of this noble Orchid was exhibited at the Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington, on June 13th, by C. L. Southgate, Esq., of Streatham. This specimen was an example of what can be produced by giving a plant the treatment it likes—for such must have been the case in this instance. The plant was in an eight-inch pot, and bore three fine spikes of blossoms, one having six, another five, and the third four flowers upon it, all expanded. The sepals and petals were of a beautiful rose colour, the lip a rich crimson, finely fringed, and marked with orange on the upper part. It was altogether a very striking object, and was greatly admired for the profusion of blossom produced in so small a pot. We mention this plant in order that our readers may know how abundantly it can be bloomed, as we often hear cultivators say that it does not flower freely, a theory which in this case must undoubtedly be wrong. The freeness of blooming evinced by this plant may be owing to the smallness of the pot in which it is grown; it may, therefore, be well for others to follow Mr. Salter’s example in this respect, since he has been so successful in cultivating it.—B. S. W.
PL. 52. ODONTOGLOSSUM MACULATUM.