The Woodlands Orchids Part 23

[Ill.u.s.tration: CYPRIPEDIUM DR RYAN.]

THE COOL HOUSE

contains about three thousand plants, mostly Odontoglossums. It is a 'lean-to,' of course. Not all the most successful growers use this form of building. Baron Schroder's world-famous Odontoglots dwell in an oblong structure which receives an equal quant.i.ty of light from every side. Even the hardiest of epiphytal orchids are conscious of influences which we cannot grasp, and those who understand them are unwilling to lay down fixed rules. But experience shows that under ordinary conditions cool species thrive in a 'lean-to' better than in a house of full span. It may be because the back wall retains moisture and gives it out all day steadily, whilst the air is saturated and dried by turns if fully exposed to a hot sun. Or it may be because the full light of a span-roof is too strong in most situations. A collector once told me that he often found Odontoglossum Pescatorei so buried in Lycopodium as to be invisible until the flower-spike appeared. Evidently such a plant does not need strong light. Both causes operate, perhaps. At least the broad fact is so well established that one might almost fancy Baron Schroder's Odontoglots would do better, if that were possible, in a 'lean-to.'

There are three gla.s.s part.i.tions, but from either door the full length of the house is seen; a pleasing vista even when there are no flowers--all smoothly green on one hand, rocky bank upon the other, studded with ferns and creepers and an orchid here and there. Why these plants dislike to stand in a long house open from end to end is a question none the less puzzling because every gardener is ready to explain it. Loving fresh air so well they cannot object to the brisker circulation. But their whims must be respected, and after building a house ninety feet long we must divide it into compartments.

I name a few among the rarities here. Of Odontoglots:--

_Wilckeanum._--Upon internal evidence Reichenbach p.r.o.nounced this a natural hybrid of Od. crispum Od. luteo-purpureum. It was one among innumerable instances of his sagacity. A few years ago M. Leroy, gardener of Baron Edmond de Rothschild at Armainvilliers, crossed those two species and the flower appeared in 1890. It was Od. Wilckeanum; but for the sake of convenience this garden hybrid is called Leroyanum.

_Wilckeanum pallens._--A form still rarer of this rare variety; yellow-ivory in colour, heavily splashed with brown; lip white, with a brown bar across the centre.

_Wilckeanum albens._--Very large, white instead of yellowish; spotted and blotched with brown.

_Ruckerianum._--Sepals and petals white in the centre, edged with violet, yellow lip; all spotted with reddish-brown.

_Ruckerianum splendens._--Larger and more finely coloured in all respects than the normal form. The violet margin is broader.

_Vuylstekeanum._--Those who saw the original plant of this n.o.ble species at the Temple Show some years since have not forgotten the spectacle a.s.suredly. Petals and dorsal sepal pale yellow; lip and side sepals brightest deepest orange.

_Mulus._--A natural hybrid of Od. luteo-purpureum with Od. gloriosum no doubt. It bears a strong spike, branched, with many large flowers, bright yellow blotched with pale brown. But the colouring varies greatly.

_Josephinae._--Named after Miss Josephine Measures. White, with a rosy flush; sepals and petals spotted with chocolate at the base.

_Hunnewellianum._--Small, but very pretty. Sepals and petals pale yellow, profusely dotted with brown; lip white, with a single brown spot.

_Elegans._--a.s.sumed to be a natural hybrid of Od. cirrhosum and Od.

Hallii. The ground colour, faintly yellow, is almost concealed by chocolate spots and patches; lip white, with a large blotch in the centre.

_Crispum virginale._--Very large and pure white, saving the yellow crest.

_Crispum Measuresiae._--Sepals and petals broad, white, spotted and blotted with reddish brown. Lip unusually large, with a single great brown blotch.

_Edithae._--Rosy white of sepal and petal, bordered with yellow and barred with chestnut; lip pale yellow, much deeper at the base, with chestnut spots in the centre.

_Crispum Our Empress._--A remarkable variety. Very large, rose colour, heavily blotched with reddish purple; lip paler, covered with brown spots.

_Crispum Woodlandsense._--A superb example of the 'round-flowering' type.

Sepals and petals very broad, densely spotted with cinnamon-brown; lip short, broad, similarly spotted.

_Crispum magnific.u.m._--Sepals pale rose; petals and lip very faintly flushed; the whole covered with brown spots.

_Bictoniense alb.u.m._--The ordinary Bictoniense is pretty enough when the lower blooms on the densely clothed spike can be persuaded to last until those above them open. This uncommon sport is much more effective, with sepals and petals of a lively brown, and broad lip of purest white.

_Facetum._--A good example of this catches the eye at once. Ground colour pale yellow, almost hidden by great brown bars upon the sepals. The petals are sharply freckled with brown, and up the middle runs a series of dark red dots. Lip similarly freckled above, with a large splash of brown in front; the lip handsomely fringed.

_Cristatellum._--Rather small and not impressive, but valuable for its scarcity. The yellow ground colour shows itself only in a few narrow streaks upon sepal and petal, and in the base of the lip. Elsewhere it is hidden beneath layers of chestnut.

_Hallii magnific.u.m._--A variety finer in all respects than the common type. Sepals brown, save the yellow tips, and a few yellow lines; petals yellow, with two large brown blots. The fringed lip also is yellow, with two brown blots.

_Madrense._--Named after its place of birth, the Sierra Madre, in Mexico.

The plant is not uncommon, but it does not flower willingly, as a rule.

Sepals and petals are white, with a double purple blotch at the base; lip small, bright orange.

_Polyxanthum magnific.u.m._--The grandest variety of a species always treasured. In colour deepest 'old gold,' with four or five great blots of chestnut on the sepals, and as many spots at the base of the petals. The lip has a shallow fringe and a broad splash in the centre.

_Wallisii._--Small. Sepals and petals dusky yellow, with a long straight bar of chocolate down the middle. Lip white at the base, with small rosy streaks; the disc rosy, edged with white.

_Hallii leucoglossum._--One of the largest Odontoglots. Buff or greenish yellow, lip white, fringed; all heavily blotched and spotted with dark brown.

_Mirandum._--Among so many charming species this must be reckoned curious rather than pretty. Narrow and rather small, dull greenish yellow, with a longitudinal bar and spots of red-brown.

_Wilckeanum Rothschildianum._---Perhaps the handsomest form of this rare variety. Large, very broad of sepal and petal, pale yellow, blotched and spotted with brown.

_Pescatorei Germinyanum._--Named after the Comte de Germiny, an enthusiastic lover of orchids, as indeed of all other flowers. This ranks among the prettiest forms of Pescatorei. Petals white, sepals flushed; both marked with a spot of dark rose. Lip white, with similar dots.

_Sceptrum._--A superb variety of the common luteo-purpureum. Sepals deep reddish brown, with yellow edges; petals yellow, blotched with reddish-brown. Lip yellow, with a single blotch in front.

_Coronarium._--One of the Odontoglots which may be termed climbing _par excellence_, for the pseudo-bulbs thrust out a long shaft before taking form. It makes a very large plant, and probably the example here is the largest existing--at least there are few as big. By successive enlargements, the basket in which it stands has reached the dimensions of three feet by two. Coronarium is reckoned among the species slow to flower, but here we find no difficulty at all. Last season our plant made nine growths and threw up eight spikes--a record! n.o.ble spikes they are too, bearing twenty to thirty blooms; petals of the brightest red-copper, marbled with yellow at the base; petals somewhat browner, both edged with gold. Lip small, narrow, light red, broadening towards the tip, which is pale primrose. I should describe coronarium as the most majestic of Odontoglots.

_Crispum Arthurianum._--A notable variety--very large, blush-white, with one enormous chocolate blot and two or three small spots on sepal and petal. Spotted lip.

_Crispo-Harryanum._--This is one of the very few hybrid Odontoglots. It was commonly a.s.sumed until a few years ago that the genus would not bear fruitful seed in Europe. This notion proves to be ill-founded happily, but to obtain good seed is still very difficult, and to rear the young plants more difficult still. Crispo-Harryanum was raised by M. Chas. Vuylsteke near Ghent. The flowers show the influence of either parent in colour and shape; the petals, which in Harryanum refuse to expand, are almost as flat as in crispum.

_Humeanum._--We may confidently a.s.sume that this is a natural hybrid of Od. Rossii and Od. cordatum. The former parent is so handsome that he has begotten a very pretty progeny, though the mother is so plain--sepals primrose, closely spotted with brown, petals and lip white, the former similarly spotted at the base.

_Tripudians oculatum._--A rare and beautiful variety of an interesting species. Very much larger than the common form; sepals of a lively brown, with yellow tips, petals yellow, mottled with brown; lip white, with violet spots above, a large blot below.

_Platycheilum._--One of the oddest and rarest Odontoglots. Sepals and petals white, with a few brown dots at the base; lip large and widespread, pink, spotted with crimson.

_Baphicanthum._--A valuable hybrid of Od. crispum and Od. odoratum or Od.

gloriosum, as internal evidence suggests. All primrose of ground colour, but the sepals and petals are thickly dotted with red-brown.

_Schillerianum._--Exceedingly rare. Pale yellow; sepals and petals spotted with chestnut. The lip has one large chestnut splash in the centre.

_Murrellianum._--Probably a natural hybrid of Od. Pescatorei and Od.

naevium. White tinged with violet, sepals and petals spotted with purple.

_Lindeni._--A superb species, but uncommonly reluctant to display its charms, as a rule. In my own poor little house it has been growing bigger for years and years. The pseudo-bulbs are five inches high now, and more than two thick, but I look for flowers in vain. When they condescend to appear they are all sulphur-yellow, crumpled, or, as the phrase goes, undulated, in a fas.h.i.+on quite unlike any other Odontoglot.

_Grande magnific.u.m._--The common form of grande ranks among the showiest of flowers, much too big, indeed, and too strong in colour, to be approved by a dainty taste. But this is even bigger, its yellow more brilliant, its red-brown markings more distinctly red. There is record of sixteen flowers on one spike, each seven inches across!--I scarcely expect to be believed, but 'chapter and verse' are forthcoming on demand.

_Crispum aureum._--Almost as yellow as polyxanthum, 'the very golden'--a most remarkable variety. The spots are few and small.