The particular form we now bring before the notice of our readers is a very handsome variety, and when first bloomed had the flowers prasiato aspersis; it is of the same type as Lælia Turnerii, of which there is a grand plate in the first series of Mr. Warner’s Select Orchidaceous Plants. Our illustration was prepared from a drawing taken from a specimen, bearing two spikes, and which produced six beautiful flowers on each, in the select collection of Baron Schröder, The Dell, Staines.
Lælia elegans prasiata is an evergreen plant, producing stems or pseudobulbs about eighteen inches high, furnished with two leaves which are six inches long and of a dark green colour. It produces its flowers from the new bulb when it has completed its growth, and they issue from a sheath, six or more together. The sepals and petals are of a dull magenta, tinged with green, the lip being of a bright magenta, while the external port of the lateral lobes, where they roll inwards over the column, is white. The flowers are very fragrant, the scent being a mixture of “May” and “Gardenia.”
This plant blooms during September and October, and lasts in beauty for about three weeks. We find it requires the same treatment as Lælia purpurata. It should, moreover, be grown in similar material, namely, good fibrous peat, with perfect drainage, and as much light as possible. Mr. Ballantyne, the gardener at the Dell, cultivates this with his Cattleyas, which are well grown, there being among them some wonderful specimens, many having over a hundred pseudobulbs. When in bloom, these plants are quite worth a journey to see.
The Manchester Whitsuntide Exhibition of 1883 was a great success. Over £2,000 was taken at the gates. We generally make a point of jotting down a few notes concerning this show, as its chief attraction consists of the Orchids, in which of course our readers are most interested. Although the show had lost several of its largest supporters, such as Mr. Percival, Mr. Hardy, and the late R. B. Dodgson, Esq., of Blackburn, there were others who exhibited in strong force. We will mention a few of the most noteworthy of the plants. O. Schneider, Esq., showed a very fine collection, including Cattleya Mendelii, a grand variety with sixteen flowers; also a splendid plant of C. Mossiæ, with over twenty beautiful flowers; and Dendrobium Devonianum, a splendid plant with its long stems bearing over two hundred flowers; in front of this was Odontoglossum Pescatorei, with fourteen spikes of its lovely white and spotted flowers; and a fine Lælia purpurata, with its rosy sepals and petals, and bright crimson-purple lip. Dr. Ainsworth exhibited some very fine specimens of Dendrobium thyrsiflorum, with fifteen of its beautiful spikes; the pure white Phalænopsis amabilis, a splendid mass with twelve spikes and a hundred flowers; a wonderful specimen of Vanda suavis, with twelve spikes; Phalænopsis grandiflora, with more than fifty flowers; and Aërides Fieldingii, a fine specimen with five spikes and six branches. Mrs. Leach, of Gorse Hall, Stalybridge, exhibited six good plants, among them was a fine Cattleya Mossiæ, with a splendid dark lip; also Dendrobium nobile, fine, and the beautiful Odontoglossum Hallii. There were some fine specimens exhibited from the collection of W. Leach, Esq., Fallowfield, among which was a wonderful plant of Dendrobium Falconeri, with two hundred flowers; next to this was the curious Cypripedium caudatum, with six spikes, also Aërides crasssifolium, and other good Orchids. Mr. Upjohn exhibited a wonderful Vanda tricolor, the finest-grown plant we have seen, with five spikes. Mr. Hodgkinson exhibited a very fine variety of Vanda suavis with three spikes. Mr. James, of Norwood, Surrey, exhibited two fine collections, including a wonderful plant of Dendrobium Paxtoni; Cattleya Mendelii, with ten flowers; Masdevallia Harryana, a fine variety; a good plant of Dendrobium Jamesianum, with thirty-six flowers, and many other fine specimens. Mr. Cypher, of Cheltenham, also showed some good plants, among which we remarked a fine Dendrobium Freemanii, with one hundred flowers of a beautiful colour; D. Devonianum, with two hundred of its lovely blossoms; also some other good plants. Messrs. Ireland & Thomson, of Edinburgh, also exhibited a very fine collection of cut Orchids that was much admired.—B. S. W.
PL. 98. CORYANTHES MACULATA PUNCTATA.
CORYANTHES MACULATA PUNCTATA.
[[Plate 98].]
Native of Demerara.
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs ovate or sometimes narrowed and elongate, furrowed, two to three inches long, tapering upwards, clustered. Leaves two, from the apex of each pseudobulb, broadly lanceolate, plicate, submembranaceous, light green, about a foot long. Scape radical, pendent, one and a half foot long, brownish purple, bearing a raceme of several flowers. Bracts large, membranaceous, ovate-lanceolate, two or three sheathing ones on the scape, and one at the base of each pedicel. Flowers large, very peculiar in form, ochraceous yellow, curiously spotted and blotched with deep wine-purple; sepals conduplicate flexuose, membranaceous, the dorsal one small, oblong, the lateral ones broad, at first spreading, but at length becoming reflexed and resembling bats’ wings, pale ochraceous yellow, the surface thickly spotted with small dots of deep wine-purple; petals oblong, erect, twisted, much smaller than the sepals, of the same colour, but having the spots larger; lip stipitate, continuous with the base of the column, cup-shaped, having a large helmet-shaped pedunculate appendage, the cup yellowish, the appendage creamy white, spotted and blotched on both surfaces with deep wine-purple, the purple colour almost covering the anterior side. Column terete, recurved, two horned at the base, two winged.
Coryanthes maculata punctata, Lindley, Folia Orchidacea, art. Coryanthes, No. 2.; Reichenbach fil., in Walpers’ Annales Botanices Systematica, vi., 598.
Coryanthes punctata, Lindley, Botanical Register, t. 1793.