CYMBIDIUM AFFINE.
[[Plate 140].]
Native of Assam and Khasya.
Epiphytal. Acaulescent, with thick fleshy roots, forming a short rootstock, from which dense tufts of graceful erectly spreading foliage is produced. Leaves distichous, erecto-patent, elongate, linear lorate, acute, channeled, three-fourths of an inch broad, dark green. Scape stout, green, having just beneath the inflorescence two or three loosely sheathing leafy bracts; raceme six to eight-flowered, decurved, terminal, each flower having a short ovate acute bract at the base of its pale green pedicel. Flowers about two and a half inches broad, and as much in depth, ivory-white, with a pleasant scent of almonds; sepals linear-oblong, somewhat broader upwards, acute, half an inch broad, the dorsal one incurved, and arching forwards over the lip, the lateral ones two inches long, somewhat widened at the base and apex, the rounded bases united with the base of the lip, to form a short blunt chin; petals linear, about as long as the sepals, but distinctly narrower, one-fourth of an inch wide, acute; lip three-lobed, saccate at the base, the side lobes folded close to the column, the front edge produced rounded and slightly spreading, spotted, as is also the mouth of the tube, with pale magenta, the front lobe hairy, half an inch long, with a narrowed claw-like base, ovate, with a wavy margin, white, with a central straight oblong, and lateral divergent blotches of magenta, the central one continued into a yellowish streak, which is produced backwards to the deeper yellow crest of two abruptly elevated papillose plates, which are further continued into two yellow lines. Column white, one and a half inch long, curved, winged.
Cymbidium affine, Griffith, Notulæ ad Platas Asiaticas, iii., 336, t. 291; according to Lindley, Contributions to the Orchidology of India, in Journal of Linnean Society, iii., 28; Reichenbach fil., in Gardeners’ Chronicle, N.S., x., 810; Floral Magazine, t. 346.
Cymbidium micromesum, Lindley, Journal of Linnean Society, iii., 29, fide Reichenbach.
Cymbidium, though a small genus of Orchids, contains within its limits some beautiful species, varying considerably in colour; indeed, most of them are worth growing. That which we now illustrate is a very chaste and pretty species, and is still quite rare; very few plants having come under our notice. We received the grand specimen here figured from the fine collection of G. Nevile Wyatt, Esq., Lake House, Cheltenham, who takes a great interest in the cultivation of good Orchids, and from whom at different times we have received some fine cut specimens, especially of the forms of Cattleya Trianæ.
Cymbidium affine is an evergreen species, which in its growth resembles C. Mastersii and C. eburneum, but the leaves are somewhat broader. It has dark green graceful foliage, and tall, erect scapes, from which the drooping flower racemes depend. The sepals and petals are of an ivory white, and the lip is white, spotted with dull magenta-purple. The plant blooms during the autumn months, and continues in flower for several weeks if the blossoms are kept dry. It will be found to be a most useful plant for decorative purposes, as its blossoms are so beautifully developed along with its graceful green foliage.
This class of plants is well cultivated by Mr. Simcoe, the gardener at Lake House, who grows them as we do, in pots, with good drainage. We have found them to do best in good fibrous loam, as they have thick fleshy roots to support, and experience has convinced us that they require something stronger than peat to feed upon, and consequently we have substituted loam for peat, but it must have some charcoal mixed with it so that the soil may be kept open, which is quite essential for the plants; they require a good supply of water in the growing season, and when the soil is kept porous and open the water passes off readily, and does not stagnate, which is deleterious to all plants. When the growth is completed, less water will suffice, but just enough should be supplied to keep the soil damp, for their thick fleshy roots always require to be in a fresh plump condition, and in a state of growth.
We find these Cymbidiums thrive well in the Cattleya house, kept as fully exposed to the light as possible, but shaded from the sun, for if in the warm summer months the sun is allowed to shine upon them their foliage is apt to sustain injury. When the sun is on the decline it will do them no harm, and the early morning sun will be beneficial to them; the foliage must, however, never be allowed to be wet when the sun comes upon the plants, or it will most probably become spotted.
The Cattleyas at Downside (continued from [plate 134]).—The Cattleya house at Downside, when we saw it a few weeks ego, presented a most magnificent picture, there being at the time several hundred expanded flowers of C. Trianæ, distributed over the whole length of a house one hundred feet long, and showing a variety of colouring, which thus displayed amongst the green foliage was truly marvellous. This collection comprises some of the best kinds in cultivation. It would take too much space to describe them here, but we hope to illustrate some of the most striking among them in our subsequent volumes.
