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Updated: May 4, 2025
The reason for this state of things has been mentioned natural laws have exterminated them in the spaces between, which are not so well fitted to maintain a doomed race. Doubtless Cypripeds rarely fertilize by comparison, that is, of course in their native homes. The difficulty that insects find in performing that service has been mentioned. Mr.
Cookson several times; in fact, to discourse of hybridization for amateurs without reference to his astonishing "record" would be grotesque. One Sunday afternoon, ten years ago, he amused himself with investigating the structure of a few Cypripeds, after reading Darwin's book; and he impregnated them. To his astonishment the seed-vessel began to swell, and so did Mr.
Under such disadvantages it is not to be expected that seed capsules would be often found upon imported Cypripeds. Messrs. Veitch state that they rarely observed one among the myriads of plants that have passed through their hands. With some species, however, it is not by any means so uncommon. When Messrs. Thompson, of Clovenfords, bought a quantity of the first Cyp.
Cypripeds have not the power of fertilizing themselves, except a single species, Cyp. Schlimii, which accordingly, as we may say is most difficult to import and establish; moreover, it flowers so freely that the seedlings are always weak. In all species the sexual apparatus is so constructed that it cannot be impregnated by accident, and few insects can perform the office. Dr.
Darwin taught us to expect that species which can rarely hope to secure a chance of reproduction will learn to make the process as easy and as sure as the conditions would admit that none of those scarce opportunities may be lost. And so it proves. Orchidaceans are apt to declare that "everybody" is hybridizing Cypripeds nowadays.
Z. maxillare crossed with Z. Mackayi demands five years to bloom, but vice versâ nine years. There is a case somewhat similar, however, among the Cypripeds. C. Schlimii crossed with C. longifolium flowers in four years, but vice versâ in six.
The reason is that they get abundance of food in captivity, and all things are made comfortable for them; whilst Nature, anxious to be rid of a form of plant no longer approved, starves and neglects them. The same argument enables us to understand why Cypripeds lend themselves so readily to the hybridizer.
The assertion is not quite exact; but when we consider the habits of the genus, it ceases to be extraordinary that Cypripeds rarely cross in their wild state. Different species of Cattleya, Odontoglots, and the rest live together on the same tree, side by side. But those others dwell apart in the great majority of cases, each species by itself, at a vast distance perhaps from its kindred.
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