There is, no doubt, that this Lady’s Slipper, which was first received in England by Herbert Spicer, Esq., of Woodlands, Godalming, in whose honour it is named, is one of the most interesting and distinct species that has been introduced of late years. It was also at one time very rare, and realised high prices, being much sought after in consequence of its being so different from the other species known in cultivation; but now that it has been brought home in larger quantities it is more accessible. The plant may be cultivated in any warm moist house, and is of free-growing habit, as well as free in producing its blossoms. There are several slight variations differing in the size and colour or their flowers. That which we here figure has the dorsal sepal white, while some plants have a shade of rose colour towards the base. Our drawing was taken from a plant in the Nurseries of Messrs. Hugh Low & Co. of Clapton, who received a fine importation about two years ago. Messrs. F. Sander & Co. have also added to our stock of this species; and we learn from them that “it grows on almost perpendicular rocks, from which the plants are loosened with sticks, and so let down, during the months of May and September. The water runs over these rocks—not in streams, of course, but sufficient water hangs round the plants to keep the soil and moss which is about them as wet as water itself. During the winter months this Cypripedium should not be grown hot.”
Cypripedium Spicerianum is a dwarf evergreen plant, with light glossy green foliage, six inches or upwards in length, and throws up its flowers on purplish downy stalks, some eight or ten inches above the foliage. The flowers are very peculiar, from the singular twisting of the dorsal sepal, which is white, or in some varieties suffused with rose, green at the very base, and having a broad purplish stripe along the centre; the petals, which are prettily waved especially along the upper edge, are green, with a central stripe and numerous dots of purple; and the lip is large, and of a brownish-green. The staminode in this species is very brilliant and conspicuous, being of a beautiful mauve-purple, with a white border. The plants bloom during September and October; and when a number of them can be obtained, and their growth regulated, they may be kept flowering for a much longer time, as each individual blossom lasts several weeks in beauty.
This interesting novelty requires the same treatment as C. Stonei, that is, to be potted in rough fibrous peat, intermixed with some charcoal and sphagnum moss; good drainage must also be afforded, as the roots must be kept moist during the growing season; in fact, they should never be allowed to get dry, as it has no thick fleshy bulbs or stems to support it. We find it do well in a warm house with other Cypripeds. Pot culture is the most suitable for it, but it will succeed in baskets suspended from the roof, if shaded from the sun.
Odontoglossum Alexandræ.—We have received a splendid variety of this popular Orchid from J. S. Bockett, Esq., of The Hall, Stamford Hill. The inflorescence was very distinct, and consisted of flowers of good form and substance, with the margins beautifully serrated. The sepals and petals were white flushed with rose, the sepals being in addition spotted with reddish brown, and the white lip was also spotted with brown. The flowers were, moreover, nicely regulated on the spike, so that the entire inflorescence had a particularly good appearance.—B. S. W.
PL. 120. DENDROBIUM DEAREI.
DENDROBIUM DEAREI.
[[Plate 120].]
Native of Mindanao, Philippine Islands.
Epiphytal. Stems stoutish, many-leaved, two to three feet high, marked by numerous furrows, and invested by the sheathing leaf bases. Leaves densely placed, oblong-ligulate, emarginate at the apex, leathery in texture, two inches or more in length, sub-deciduous. Racemes numerous (six to nine) on one stem, issuing from the uppermost joints, each bearing from ten to eighteen flowers, terminal or sub-terminal. Flowers three inches across, pure white, exceedingly chaste and delicate, attached by three-winged ovaries; sepals lanceolate, acuminate, keeled; petals rhomboid-oblong obtuse; lip oblong obtuse, apiculate, the anterior part crenulate, with an obtuse angle on each side towards the base, which is somewhat cucullate, pure white, like the rest of the flower, but with a small blotch of pale green on the disk, crossed by about half a dozen green lines; spur or chin extinguisher-shaped. Column much dilated at the base.
Dendrobium Dearei, Reichenbach fil., in Gardeners’ Chronicle, N.S., xviii., 361.