United States or Western Sahara ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The structure of the plants is identical, and to admit C. Mossiæ as a sub-species of the same was the utmost concession Lindley would make. This was in 1840. Fifteen years later came C. Warscewiczi, now called gigas; then, next year, C. Trianæ; C. Dowiana in 1866; C. Mendellii in 1870 all labiatas, strictly speaking. At each arrival the controversy was renewed; it is not over yet.
I cite the following haphazard: Phajus Wallichii × Phajus tuberculosus. Loelia præstans. × Cattleya Dowiana. " purpurata × Cattleya Dowiana. " " × Loelia grandis tenebrosa. " " × Cattleya Mendellii. " marginata × Loelia elegans Cooksoni. Cattleya Mendellii × " purpurata. " Trianæ × " harpophylla. " Percivalliana × " " Lawrenceana × Cattleya Mossiæ. " gigas × " Gaskelliana.
But at the Temple Show this year Norman C. Cookson, Esq., exhibited Catt. William Murray, offspring of Catt. Mendellii × Catt. Lawrenceana, a lovely flower which gained a first class certificate. It was only four years old. The quickest record as yet is Calanthe Alexanderii, with which Mr. Cookson won a first-class certificate of the Royal Horticultural Society.
Most of the Cattleyas with which the public is familiar Mossiæ, Trianæ, Mendellii, and so forth have white varieties; but an example absolutely pure is so uncommon that it fetches a long price. Loveliest of these is C. Skinneri alba. For generations, if not for ages, the people of Costa Rica have been gathering every morsel they can find, and planting it upon the roofs of their mud-built churches.
This species is persecuted in its native home by a beetle, which accompanies it to Europe not infrequently in the form of eggs, no doubt. A more troublesome alien is the fly which haunts Cattleya Mendellii, and for a long time prejudiced growers against that fine species, until, in fact, they had made a practical and rather costly study of its habits.
We understand now that C. Mendellii is as safe to import as any other species, unless it be gathered at the wrong time. Among the most glorious, rarest, and most valuable of Cattleyas is C. Hardyana, doubtless a natural hybrid of C. aurea with C. gigas Sanderiana. Few of us have seen it two-hundred-guinea plants are not common spectacles.
Word Of The Day