Epiphytal. Stems obovate-oblong, compressed, furrowed, attenuated below into a terete jointed stalk. Leaves two, palish green, spreading, leathery, oblong-obtuse, sub-emarginate. Scape six to eight-flowered, issuing from a short oblong spathe. Flowers exceedingly chaste and elegant, pure white in colour, measuring four inches in depth and breadth; sepals plane, lanceolate, acute, recurved at the extreme tip, half an inch in breadth, pure white; petals ovate-obtuse, one and a quarter inch in breadth, slightly undulated towards the tips, also pure white; lip white, the basal part very closely and narrowly rolled around the column, and there showing exteriorly on the lower side a slight stain of rose, which, when unrolled, appears as a small rosy blotch, the front lobe roundish reniform. Column white, clavate, about an inch long.
Cattleya Skinneri alba, Reichenbach fil., Gardeners’ Chronicle, N.S., vii., 810.
The fine genus Cattleya is becoming more and more interesting and valuable every year, since many new forms and colours are continually coming before us. We feel great pleasure in being able to figure this chaste and lovely variety of C. Skinneri, which has pure snow white flowers. It is quite astonishing to find that white forms of so many different kinds of Cattleya are being brought home by our energetic collectors. Many, indeed, have turned out to be white-flowered when we have bloomed them, without any knowledge of the fact on the part of those that have collected them, the reason being that often they do not find them in bloom, and it is, of course, difficult to know their colours unless they are in flower; moreover, it sometimes occurs that there are not many of the pure white forms. There may be others of a rosy hue, and it is frequently the case that seedlings come intermediate in colour. We hope our collectors may be fortunate enough to find pure white forms of other species in bloom, as they are so charming. The variation of colour which occurs in some of the species in their native country, is no doubt due to the intervention of insects, the action being just the same as that of the hybridizer in our plant-houses.
We bloomed a very fine pure white Cattleya Skinneri, an imported plant, some years ago, and we have since seen several white varieties, but the figure we now publish was taken from a plant in the collection of Sir Nathaniel de Rothschild, of Tring Park. The spike, as may be seen from our plate, was a good one, with well-expanded blossoms, not quite so large as in the parent Cattleya Skinneri, which is of a most charming rosy purple, and one of the most distinct and showy of Orchids. There are fine varieties of this species, especially one that has been grown in collections for many years, and that we have been in the habit of exhibiting for the past 35 years—even before that there were fine specimens of it in cultivation. The species was named after the late G. Ure Skinner, Esq., who imported it from Guatemala, together with many other Orchids, and whose name will always be associated with this class of plants, many fine kinds having been named after him.
Cattleya Skinneri alba is an evergreen plant, with light green stems and foliage. The stems are about twelve inches high, and each produces two leaves about four inches long. The spikes proceed from an oblong sheath at the top of the stem in March and April. The sepals and petals are pure white with the throat of the lip pale yellow. It continues in bloom for two or three weeks, but it must be kept free from damp, as white flowers soon become spotted if kept in too cool and damp an atmosphere; it is always best to have a dry, warm house for plants that are in bloom, as they then last so much longer. Mr. Hill, the gardener at Tring Park, must have kept this specimen in a dry, warm house, as the flowers were most perfect when they reached us.
This plant requires the same treatment as C. Skinneri. It is best grown in a pot or basket, with good fibrous peat and sphagnum moss, the pots being filled three-parts full of drainage, then filled up with rough peat, placing some pieces of charcoal amongst it; this will keep it open and porous, and the roots will run freely among the charcoal. In the growing season the soil requires to be kept rather moist, but the plant does not like too much water about its roots at any time. It is best grown near the light, with a little shade when the sun is hot, the shading not being required at any other time. We find the warm end of the Cattleya house to suit it, as it requires more warmth than some of the other Cattleyas. When the growth is finished in autumn, very little water should be given, and during winter only just sufficient to keep the stems plump, until they begin to throw up their flower spikes in March, when a little more may be supplied to assist the flowers in opening, and to secure finer blossoms.
They begin to grow after their flowering season is over, which is the best time for division if it is required, but it is best to avoid cutting this rare plant as much as possible, as sometimes the divided pieces will not succeed so well, especially if the plant is not strong and vigorous. When divided, place them in a shady, moist place until they get established; then they may be removed to a position more exposed to the light.
PL. 113. DENDROBIUM WARDIANUM GIGANTEUM.