PL. 106. MAXILLARIA LUTEO-ALBA.
MAXILLARIA LUTEO-ALBA.
[[Plate 106].]
Native of Colombia.
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs large, about two and a half inches high, ovate obtuse, compressed, clustered, bearing at the apex a solitary leaf. Leaves stalked by the folding of the basal portion, oblong obtuse, a foot long or more, of a dark green colour. Peduncles radical, about half the length of the leaves, invested throughout with green sheathing bracts. Flowers large and peculiar in form, triangular in outline, and measuring about six inches from the top of the dorsal to the top of the lateral sepal, brownish externally; dorsal sepal linear-oblong, acute, three inches long, of a tawny yellow in the upper two-thirds of its length, the basal third white, lateral sepals of the same form, size, and colours, but twisted; petals two, erect, or somewhat projecting like two horns, ovate oblong, about half as long as the sepals, white at the base, with a few splashes of purple, yellow at the tip, with a blotch of pale brown of about equal size between; lip concave at the base, hairy, the margins undulated, three-lobed, the lobes obtuse, the lateral ones short, erect, yellow, striped with purple, the front one oblong, emarginate, recurved, the central portion convex, yellow, the margins paler, whitish. Column short, curved, creamy-white.
Maxillaria luteo-alba, Lindley, Orchidaceæ Lindenianæ, 20; Reichenbach fil., in Walpers’ Annales Botanices Systematiceæ, vi., 516; Id. Bonplandia, ii., 15, 280.
The Maxillarias form a genus of Orchids not much appreciated by many growers, but of late there has been greater variety introduced among them, and they are becoming more popular in cultivation. Some of the better and more showy kinds are quite worth bringing before our readers, as they are free-growing plants, and most of them may be kept along with the cool Orchids.
Our figure of Maxillaria luteo-alba was taken from a plant we flowered at Holloway, and exhibited at one of the meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society, and for which we were awarded a First Class Certificate. We bloomed it many years ago, but we found that Orchid growers of the present day had many of them not seen it. We find it very useful for cutting purposes, as it flowers when the plants are small, which in our opinion is far better than making large specimens. When they get too large we cut them into several pieces, and grow them on again for blooming. The flowers having stalks about six inches long, may be cut without damaging the plants; they are extremely useful for button-hole bouquets, which are so much in request at the present day.
Maxillaria luteo-alba is an evergreen plant, with dark green foliage, and grows about eighteen inches high. The flowers proceed from the base of the pseudobulbs at different times of the year. The sepals and petals are of a yellowish brown, and the lip yellow margined with white, the throat being striped with purple.
We find this species succeeds well in the cool house, with Odontoglossum Alexandræ; good fibrous peat suits it well, and it requires good drainage, with a liberal supply of water at the roots when it is in vigorous growth, as it is a free-rooting plant. After the growth is completed it should have only sufficient water to keep the pseudobulbs in a fresh plump state. A little shade is beneficial to the foliage of the plant in summer, but it should be grown as fully exposed to the light and as near to the glass as possible. Under this treatment it will be found to grow freely.