supply of water during the growing season, and to have the soil kept
moderately moist when at rest; the plants need plenty of light, but
should be shaded from the rays of the burning sun.

They must be kept free from insects, or the thrips will soon injure
their foliage. They are propagated by dividing the crowns, and they also
produce plants on the stems, which can be taken off and potted when they
have formed roots. We saw some fine plants of this Orchid in the
collection of W. Lee, Esq., of Leatherhead, which were producing shoots
in this way quite freely, and these being taken off, soon formed young
established plants.

Phaius tuberculosus (for figure, see plate 91 of our second volume.)—We
are much pleased to be able to again record the flowering of this plant
in the collection of A. Sillem, Esq., Laurie Park, Sydenham. It is
generally considered a most difficult plant to cultivate, but here it
grows most luxuriantly, no less than four spikes having been produced on
three plants last February, all of which were distinct varieties. Mr.
Billiard, the gardener, seems to have hit upon a plan of cultivation
that suits this plant admirably, and great credit is due to him for his
perseverance in the matter. We were so much interested in this
successful treatment that we paid a visit to this collection to
ascertain the mode of procedure, and Mr. Billiard was kind enough to
give us the result of his experience, which we here reproduce for the
benefit of our readers. “Our plants,” he writes, “have been grown on the
northeast side of a sun-roofed house, close to the glass, in a
temperature from 65° to 70°. We keep the sun from them as much as
possible. They are potted in equal parts of peat and moss, with a small
quantity of sharp sand, and plenty of crocks and charcoal as drainage.
When making their growth they delight in an abundance of moisture at the
roots. We find it necessary to sponge them weekly, as red spider, thrips
and green fly are particularly fond of these plants. This year from
three plants we have four spikes, which have opened twenty-three
flowers; last year the same plants had one spike each, which gave us
eighteen flowers in all.”—B. S. W.

    [Illustration: PL. 140.
    CYMBIDIUM AFFINE.]

                           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.

    [Illustration: PL. 141.
    DENDROBIUM LINAWIANUM.]

                         DENDROBIUM LINAWIANUM.
                              [Plate 141.]
                            Native of China.

  Epiphytal. _Stems_ erect, club shaped, somewhat flattened, light
  green, one to two feet high, retaining the leaves for two years, when
  mature becoming deeply furrowed and swollen below the nodes, the
  internodes partially sheathed by the withered bases of the leaves: it
  is these tumid internodes which give the appearance of a necklace,
  whence the name _moniliforme_ came to be applied, though erroneously,
  to the plant. _Leaves_ distichous, oblong obtuse, obliquely
  emarginate, pea-green. _Peduncles_ from the axils of the leaves of the
  two-year old stems, or from the joints whence the leaves have fallen,
  two to three flowered, with small acute appressed bracts. _Flowers_
  bright coloured and pleasing, three inches across; _sepals_ oblong
  acute, venose, their base produced into a blunt striated spur, white
  below and of a bright rosy pink in the upper half; _petals_ ovate, of
  the same colour as the sepals; _lip_ ovate, cucullate, reflexed,
  obscurely three-lobed, attenuated at the base, and serrulate on the
  margin, with an elevated pubescent crest along the disk, white below,
  having two crimson spots about the centre, the apical portion wholly
  rich magenta-crimson. _Column_ short, the lip articulated at the end
  of its prolonged base.

  Dendrobium Linawianum, _Reichenbach fil._ _MS._; _Id._, _Walpers’
  Annales Botanices Systematicæ_, vi., 284.

  Dendrobium moniliforme, _Lindley_, _Botanical Register_, t. 1314, non
  _Swartz_; _Hooker_, _Botanical Magazine_, t. 4153; _Paxton_, _Magazine
  of Botany_, iii., 77; _Maund_, _Botanist_, iv., t. 194; _Annales de
  Gand_, 1847, t. 137.

This _Dendrobium Linawianum_ is a very old inhabitant of our Orchid
houses, and a most distinct and beautiful kind; it is better known,
however, under the name of _D. moniliforme_, which was formerly applied
to it in error, but which it will no doubt long retain. Amongst the
older race of Orchid cultivators, we used to exhibit it under the name
of _D. moniliforme_ at the Chiswick and Regent’s Park Exhibitions, where
it was shown in the form of large specimen plants, and formed one of the
prettiest and most distinct looking Orchids in the show. Although
amongst the numerous novelties, which have since been introduced, there
have been many which produce splendid flowers as regards size, form, and
colour, there has been one only that is at all similar to the present
species, and that, which Professor Reichenbach has named _D. nobile
formosanum_, and which is very much like _D. Linawianum_ both in its
growth and in its flowers, we imported about two years ago from the
Island of Formosa. The drawing, of our present subject, was taken from a
remarkably fine specimen grown in the collection of G. W. Law-Schofield,
Esq., New-Hall-Hey, Rawtenstall, near Manchester; the specimen was about
two feet high and as much through, and was one mass of blossoms. Mr.
Wise, the gardener, tells us it has flowered in this way for several
years; and we may safely say that it is one of the best grown plants
that have yet come under our notice.

_Dendrobium Linawianum_ is an evergreen species with flattish
club-shaped stems, which are of a light green colour, and remarkable for
becoming swollen just beneath the nodes. The leaves are of a pea-green
colour, and the flowers are borne on the stems of the second year, in
twos or threes at every node. The sepals and petals are white at the
base, and bright rosy pink in the upper half, while the lip is white,
beautifully tipped with bright magenta-crimson. The flowers are produced
during the winter and spring months, and last in perfection for two or
three weeks. It may be had in flower much later by retarding the plant
after it has finished its growth.

The present is a free-growing species if the plant is in good health. It
begins to grow when the flowering is over, and this is the best time for
repotting if the plant requires it; but care must be taken not to over
pot it, as this is dangerous in some cases, especially if the soil
should get into a bad state, for then the roots go rotten, and the plant
becomes sickly. If this should happen, shake away all the soil from the
roots and wash them well, afterwards repotting the plant in as small a
pot as the roots will allow; the fresh roots will then begin to work
about the new soil. Good drainage must always be given; and the plant
must be well elevated above the rim of the pot. The most suitable
potting material is good rough fibrous peat mixed with lumps of
charcoal, which will keep the soil open, and allow the water to pass off
freely. Over watering is dangerous, but the plants require to be kept
moderately moist at the roots during the growing season. To avoid risk
from excess of water, the pots should be three parts full of drainage
material. When the growth is completed, give sufficient water to keep
the stems plump until they show signs of flowering; then give a little
once or twice a week, the quantity and frequency of the application
depending mainly on the nature of the potting material; if it be rough
and porous, the plant will require it, and a slight syringing over the
soil and among the roots during a warm day, will also be beneficial.

We grow our plants at the cool end of the East Indian house, giving them
plenty of light, and no more shade than is necessary to keep the foliage
from burning. Light is the grand agent in ripening the stems; and it is
thorough ripeness which induces them to make vigorous growth, and to
develope their flowers freely.

Propagation is effected by dividing the stems just as they begin to
start into growth, leaving two or three old bulbs at the back of the new
one. It is the better plan to cut them a short time before they are
parted; and this should be done with great care. After dividing, place
them each in a small pot, with good drainage, and similar potting
material to that previously recommended. They thrive well in sphagnum
moss, but we prefer the peat.

    [Illustration: Pl. 142.
    ZYGOPETALUM BURKEI.]

                          ZYGOPETALUM BURKEI.
                              [Plate 142.]
                          Native of Demerara.

  Epiphytal. _Pseudobulbs_ clustered, narrow oblong, over two inches
  long, erect, shining, tetragonal, the surface furrowed, diphyllous.
  _Leaves_ elongate-lanceolate acuminate, nervose, somewhat leathery in
  consistence. _Scape_ radical, pale green, bearing a raceme of four or
  five flowers, furnished with ovate pale green bracts at the base of
  the pedicels. _Flowers_ about two inches across, of a peculiar and
  distinctive character; _sepals_ ovate-lanceolate, the lateral ones
  deflexed, bright green, with about seven wavy close-set longitudinal
  bands of dark umber-brown, the bars having a tendency to break up into
  lines of spots, wholly green outside; _petals_ spreading, of the same
  form and colour as the sepals; _lip_ unguiculate, auricled on both
  sides in front of the claw, obovate with a broad rounded apex,
  undulated margin, and furnished behind the disk with a callus or ruff
  of thirteen crimson plaits or ribs. _Column_ thick, greenish, galeate,
  with two projecting linear auricles.

  Zygopetalum Burkei, _Reichenbach fil._, in _Gardeners’ Chronicle_,
  N.S., xx., 684.

This new species is a very pretty free-blooming plant. It belongs to a
genus that is well known to plant growers, and amongst the species of
which there are some grand decorative plants; indeed, we generally find
some of these plants wherever there is a stove, even if Orchids
generally are not professed to be grown. _Zygopetalum Mackayi_, _Z.
maxillare_, and _Z. Gautieri_, are the most useful. Of late some new
hybrids have been introduced, namely, _Z. Sedeni_ and _Z. Clayi_, which
latter will be found figured at Plate 50 of our second volume. The
species now under notice was introduced by the Messrs. Veitch & Sons, of
Chelsea; and in their fine collection it bloomed last November, and was
exhibited at South Kensington, gaining a First Class Certificate. It
will be found to be a most useful species for general cultivation. We
believe Messrs. Veitch’s to be the only plant that has yet flowered in
this country.

_Zygopetalum Burkei_ is a native of Demerara, and was found, it appears,
by Sir Robert Schomburgk some forty years since, but had not been
introduced until recently sent home by Messrs. Veitch’s collector, Mr.
Burke, after whom it is named. It is an evergreen species, with long
narrow erect ribbed four-cornered pseudobulbs, and light green foliage;
the sepals and petals are green, spotted and barred with brown, and the
lip is white, with a crest of crimson stripes on ribs. It blooms during
the autumn months and lasts for several weeks in bloom.

The East India house is the most suitable place in which to cultivate
it, for most of the species of _Zygopetalum_ like the temperature
therein maintained, and, indeed, they thrive well in any warm stove.
This new species will no doubt require as a root medium the same
material as the rest of the genus, that is, rough fibrous peat and loam.
As they generally have thick fleshy roots, they require an abundant
supply of moisture during the growing season; but of course a less
liberal supply will suffice after the growth has been completed, when
the ripening process comes on.

A Wonderful Dendrobium.—Mr. Blend, gardener to S. K. Mainwaring, Esq.,
Otley Park, Shrewsbury, has recently flowered a grand specimen of the
old and beautiful _Dendrobium Paxtoni_. The plant is in a 15-inch pot,
has 74 growths, and produced 123 flower spikes, containing in all 1,216
flowers. The longest growth on the plant measures as much as four feet
six inches. This plant is a marvel of cultivation, and we are much
pleased to be able to record such a splendid example of Orchid
management—B. S. W.

Odontoglossum mulus.—D. Tod, Esq., Eastwood Park, Thorliebank, by
Glasgow, has sent in flowers of a fine variety of _Odontoglossum mulus_,
which bloomed with him last April. The spike, Mr. Tod informs us, bore
sixteen flowers, and although this is no great number for _O. mulus_,
which generally comes with a large branched panicle, it must have been a
fine sight, as the flowers of Mr. Tod’s variety are not only very large,
but very brightly coloured.—B. S. W.

A Gigantic Orchid.—Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, have lately
received an enormous specimen of _Cattleya Skinneri_, certainly the
largest mass of an Orchid ever imported. The plant was found growing in
the crown of a tree, near Cartago, in Costa Rica, where it was
originally planted in a garden belonging to a native, by whom it has
since been cultivated, so that although this plant has been found in its
native habitat, it is, nevertheless, a cultivated specimen. This plant
has long been known to botanical travellers, Skinner, Roezl, and others
having seen it in flower. It is stated to have produced, at one time,
over 1,500 flowers. Its dimensions are six feet in height by seven feet
in diameter; its weight about twelve hundredweight. We understand Mr.
Sander is about erecting a house for its reception, where we suppose it
will figure as a _piece de resistance_ of the establishment.—H. W.

    [Illustration: Pl. 143.
    CŒLOGYNE BARBATA.]

                           CŒLOGYNE BARBATA.
                              [Plate 143.]
                 Native of India: Bhothan, Khasya, &c.

  Epiphytal. _Pseudobulbs_ roundish-ovate, plump, two-leaved, with
  brownish lanceolate bracts at their base. _Leaves_ narrowed below into
  a petiole, elliptic-oblong, with a stout costa, plicate, leathery, one
  and a half-inch wide, and from six inches to a foot long including the
  petiole, of a lively green. _Peduncles_ erect, rigid, springing from
  between the leaves, terete, terminating in a dense raceme of flowers,
  below which are several pairs of abortive imbricated pale brown
  bracts. _Flowers_ large, white, with a peculiar sooty or pitchy stain
  covering the inner side of the lip, breaking out into fine pencillings
  towards the margin; _sepals_ white, oblong-ovate, broadish at the
  base, narrowed to the acute point; _petals_ white, lanceolate acute,
  broadest at the base; _lip_ white, oblong, three-lobed, saccate at the
  base, fringed with brown-based hairs on the anterior margins, and
  bearded with hairs entirely dark brown on the three veins of the disk,
  forming three shaggy crests, the side lobes tinged with pale flesh
  colour or pink outside. _Column_ white, deflexed, bilobed at the end.

  Cœlogyne barbata, _Griffith_, _Itinerary Notes 72_; _Id._ _Notulæ ad
  Plantas Asiaticas_, iii., 280, t. 291, fig. 2; _Lindley_, _Folia
  Orchidacea_, _art._ Cœlogyne, No. 21; _Reichenbach fil._, in _Walpers’
  Annales Botanices Systematicæ_; vi., 229.

Of our present subject Dr. Lindley remarks (_Folia Orchidacea_, l.
c.)—“This is, perhaps, the finest of this fine genus. The coriaceous
leaves are more than fifteen inches long; the scapes are erect, very
stiff, as long as the leaves, and furnished at the apex with an
imbricated sheath of bud scales, out of which appears a flexuous raceme
four to six inches long, composed of very large blunt deciduous bracts.
The flowers are fully two inches and at half in diameter, pure white,
except very long hairy fringes which are brown at their base, where they
border the lip, and wholly brown where they cover the veins, and form
three shaggy crests.” The only figure previously published is a very
indifferent one of Griffith’s quoted above.

In the _Cœlogyne_ we now bring to the notice of our readers we have one
of the most useful species of a comparatively large genus, and one that
blooms during the winter months, when white flowers are sought after. It
is one, moreover, the flowers of which stand well when cut. We are
indebted to Mr. W. Bull, of Chelsea, for the introduction of this
species; which is a free bloomer when the bulbs are strong. It is a
plant which possesses many good qualities, being a free grower as well
as a free bloomer, and having the advantage of bearing fine evergreen
foliage; it will thrive well in the cool house with Odontoglots; and
besides all this, it is a cheap plant, so that everyone having a cool
house can procure and grow it without much expense or trouble. Our
drawing was taken from a specimen which flowered in the Victoria and
Paradise Nurseries.

_Cœlogyne barbata_ is, as we have just said, an evergreen plant, with
short pseudobulbs and stout foliage, which grows about a foot long, and
is of a lively green colour. The sepals and petals are white; the lip is
sepia-brown, distinctly bearded with long fringes of coloured hairs,
which give it a very distinct and quaint appearance, the fringe and
beard contrasting very strongly with the white sepals and petals. It
blooms during the autumn months, and continues flowering for a long
time, if the flowers are kept free from damp. The plant should,
therefore, be placed at the dry end of the house when in bloom, or be
removed to a drier house than that in which it has been grown. We find
it to grow well in a pot, if allowed perfect drainage, and planted in
rough fibrous peat, allowing it a moderate supply of water during the
growing season, but reducing the quantity when the plant is at rest.

There were three very interesting New Orchids exhibited by Sir T.
Lawrence, Bart, M.P., at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society
on April 22nd last, all being remarkably distinct and pretty:—

Angræcum fastuosum.—The growth of this species is somewhat similar to
that of _A. articulatum_, but the leaves are rounder and broader. The
spikes are short and drooping, the flowers pure white, sweet-scented,
with the lip larger than the petals; very distinct.

Odontoglossum cinnamomeum.—A new species, much resembling the true and
rare _O. odoratum_. The sepals and petals are, however, broader, and the
markings are much denser; the lip is yellow, with a large brownish
crimson blotch in the centre, and the margin faintly spotted with the
same colour, the whole surface being covered with fine downy hairs; very
strongly scented.

Dendrobium Harveyanum.—This is a great surprise, being in the way of
_Dendrobium Brymerianum_, but it has this peculiarity, that the petals
are fringed in the same way as the lip, thus practically giving to the
flower the appearance of three lips instead of one, although somewhat
modified. The flowers are smaller than those of _D. Brymerianum_, but
the plant resembles it in growth; and, indeed, it was imported with that
species, so that possibly it may be a sport from it, which has become
fixed. This plant has been named in honour of E. Harvey, Esq.,
Riversdale Road, Aigburth, Liverpool, in whose collection it first
bloomed.—H. W.

    [Illustration: Pl. 144.
    CATTLEYA LABIATA PERCIVALIANA.]

                     CATTLEYA LABIATA PERCIVALIANA.
                              [Plate 144.]
                           Native of Brazil.

  Epiphytal. _Stems_ erect, club-shaped, becoming furrowed in age,
  nearly a foot in height, monophyllous, evergreen. _Leaves_
  oblong-obtuse, leathery, dark green. _Scape_ two-flowered, issuing
  from an oblong sheath. _Flowers_ about five inches across, exceedingly
  handsome, the lip being very richly coloured; _sepals_
  linear-lanceolate, entire, the dorsal one recurved, of a soft pale
  magenta-rose; _petals_ much larger and longer, broadly ovate-obtuse,
  the margin slightly wavy, scarcely denticulate, about two and a
  quarter inches broad, of the same pale rosy hue as the sepals, the
  mid-rib strongly developed towards the base; _lip_ comparatively
  small, but intensely rich in colour, bluntly keeled at the back
  towards the base, plane for about half its length, with the margins
  closely folded over the column, rosy at the edge, strongly flushed
  with crimson and veined with golden yellow; the front lobe
  roundish-oblong, one and a half inch wide, its edges meeting over the
  throat, the margin being finely but neatly frilled, as also are the
  sides of the broadly-rounded deeply-emarginate apex; the colour in the
  expanded portion is a very rich velvety crimson in the central area,
  passing near the front edge to a band one-fourth of an inch wide of
  the pale rose of the petals, and continued narrower along the sides,
  the disk and the sides of the tubulose basal portion flushed with
  maroon-crimson, everywhere richly veined with deep yellow, giving the
  appearance of bronzy gold, and having two elevated golden ridges
  extending to the base. _Column_ thick, clavate, white, with a blunt
  keel at the back, extending nearly to the apex, which has a small
  inflexed acute appendage lying between the two blunt lobes of the
  anther bed.

  Cattleya labiata Percivaliana, _Reichenbach fil._, in _Gardeners’
  Chronicle_, N.S., xvii., 796.

There has been much controversy of late respecting this beautiful
_Cattleya_, the true character of the flowers of which will be seen at
once from our Plate, our artist having produced a very faithful
representation of the richly-coloured blossoms. We have seen the flowers
of two successive seasons from the very plant from which our drawing was
taken, and have noted that they keep true to character as regards
colour, and that in the second year the flowers were larger than in the
first, which may be accounted for by the plant having become stronger
and better established, the blossoms partaking of the general
improvement. It must not, however, be expected that every purchaser will
obtain a plant of the some character as that represented in our Plate,
as we have seen but few that have proved to be equal to the one we
figure. There is an abundant supply of plants imported as _C.
Percivaliana_, but they vary greatly in merit—more so in this than in
any other _Cattleya_ that has come under our notice. Many of the species
of _Cattleya_ yield variety both as to the colour and size of their
blossoms, though they are generally all good enough to cultivate or to
use as decorative plants; but in this particular species or subspecies
there are many that prove to be worthless, and unfortunately no one can
tell whether individual plants will be good or had until the flowers
expand. The good ones are really valuable, for there is no other
_Cattleya_ in which the lip and throat are so richly coloured; even in
the small-flowered forms there is a portion of this rich colouration to
be found on the lip.

Mr. Sander, the importer, has been no doubt deceived, and has suffered
great loss through importing a large quantity of plants, of which many
have had to be destroyed owing to their not being worth cultivating,
since the bad forms cost as much to import as the good ones; while the
collectors, when they do not see them in bloom, do not suspect that such
inferior forms can exist amongst the good ones. We have seen other fine
varieties, but none better than the one we have illustrated, and which
we received from the superb collection of R. P. Percival, Esq., of
Birkdale, Southport, after whom it is named. We received the flowers two
years before we ventured to submit the drawing to our readers, and to
vouch for its accuracy. We trust there may prove to be enough of the
better forms imported to supply all who may desire to possess the plant
in its true character.

_Cattleya labiata Percivaliana_ is, like _labiata_ itself, an evergreen
plant, with clavate stems, ten inches in height, bearing dark green
foliage, much resembling that of _C. Mossiæ_. It is a plant of
compact-growing habit, having the sepals and petals suffused with a
delicate magenta-rose colour, while the lip is of an intense magenta,
marginated broadly with pale rosy purple, the throat being deep orange,
veined with brownish purple; the flowers have a most peculiar odour,
similar to that of _Lælia autumnalis_, by which they can be at once
identified. This _Cattleya_ blooms during the winter months, at the same
time as _C. Trianæ_, and lasts in bloom for two or three weeks.

Mr. Beddoes, the gardener at Birkdale, grows this plant in the same
house with _Cattleya Trianæ_, of which Mr. Percival has a remarkably
fine collection. The house in which they are grown, is a good-sized one,
and is so built and glazed that there is plenty of light admitted. It is
also a well ventilated structure, so that plenty of water may be used
about the house in their growing season, when the temperature is right
both inside and outside the house. This a most important item in the
successful cultivation of Orchids, as well as of other plants. Mr.
Percival has evidently studied this point, and good results have
followed, as will have been seen by those who have had the pleasure of
visiting his collection, while those who have not seen it should try to
do so, and judge for themselves. We find rough fibrous peat to suit this
plant, which must have sufficient drainage, and must be grown fully
exposed to light at all times. Mr. Sander informs us that the plants are
found growing on rocks in the full sun, so that they are likely to
require an abundance of light and a good season of rest.

                          Transcriber’s Notes

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
  is public-domain in the country of publication.

—Silently corrected a few palpable typos, and merged errata into the
  text.

—Added arabic page numbers to non-plate pages.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
  _underscores_.

—The HTML version contains links to previous volumes of _The Orchid
  Magazine_, which can be installed locally:

        Volume 1
        Volume 2