In Lælia albida we introduce to the notice of our readers a very pretty small-growing Orchid, which produces good useful flower spikes according to the vigour of the pseudobulbs, and which should therefore be grown in every collection. It blooms during the autumn months, and is a plant of quite a distinct character. We have many large-flowered grand species of this genus unsurpassed by any other Orchids, but the smaller growing kinds come in very useful where space is an object, and can be grown suspended from the roof, or on back wall of the house provided they get plenty of light and air, which they require in order to enable them to grow vigorously and flower freely. We are indebted to Herbert J. Adams, Esq., Roseneath, Enfield, for the specimen from which our drawing was taken, and which had been very successfully grown in his collection.
Lælia albida is an evergreen plant, and of compact-growing habit, as will be seen from the accompanying figure. It produces its flower scapes from the top of the pseudobulb after the growth is completed, and the spikes assume a drooping character. The sepals and petals are white, the lip being rose-purple. It blooms in December and January and lasts for three weeks in beauty. There are several varieties of it, varying in the colour of the lip and the size of the flower.
These plants, we find, do well on a block of wood, or in a basket suspended from the roof of the Mexican house, with as little shade as possible, and they require a good supply of water in the growing season. If grown on blocks they require syringing every day during their season of growth—sometimes twice a day, morning and afternoon, according to the weather and the state of the atmosphere of the house in which they are grown. A great deal depends upon this point. It is a good plan to take the blocks and soak them in water until the blocks and roots are thoroughly saturated, and when this is done they will not require syringing so often. If grown in baskets with rough fibrous peat or sphagnum moss, they must be well drained by mixing a few pieces of charcoal with the peat. They will also succeed well in the warmest end of the Odontoglossum house.
Mr. May, the gardener at Roseneath, is very successful in cultivating these Lælias, and they well repay all the attention that is given them. The plants must be kept from insects; they are subject to the white scale, which can easily be kept under when taken in time. Whenever a plant shows signs of insects, let them be at once eradicated, as delays are dangerous, and through procrastination much mischief may be done before the remedy is applied.
Dendrobium crassinode Barberianum.—We have received a noble example of this very fine Orchid from W. Turner, Esq., Over Hall, Winsford, Cheshire. The stem bore twenty-four flowers of large size, and the specimen from which it was cut was the best-grown plant we have seen. It had sixteen bulbs, averaging from eighteen inches to two feet in length, all in full bloom at one time, and presented a most glorious spectacle. The sepals and petals are of a beautiful clear white, tipped with rich purple, and the lip is white with a deep orange blotch at the base. We are pleased to be able to mention Mr. W. Turner’s name in association with so grand a plant, for he has been well known for many years as one of the oldest of our Orchid growers.—B. S. W.
PL. 139. ARUNDINA BAMBUSÆFOLIA.