The Orchid Album, Volume 3: Comprising Coloured Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, and Beautiful Orchidaceous PlantsMoore, Thomas
Science
The Orchid Album, Volume 3: Comprising Coloured Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, and Beautiful Orchidaceous Plants
Moore, Thomas
Orchids; Orchids -- Pictorial works
Our figure of this charming _Lælia_ was taken from a finely-bloomed
specimen in the well-grown collection of F. A. Philbrick, Esq., of
Bickley, under the care of Mr. Heims, who has succeeded in flowering it
very successfully. It was a very rare plant a few years ago, and then
commanded a high price; but of late years there have been received large
importations of it, and it may now be purchased at a more reasonable
cost. The varieties vary to some extent in the size of their flowers and
in the particular shade of colour, which is found to be the case with
nearly all the imported Orchids.
_Lælia harpophylla_ is an evergreen species, with thin stems and long
narrowish pointed foliage, of a dark green colour; it grows a foot or
more in height, the flower-spike proceeding from a sheath at the top of
the stem, and rising about six inches above it, several flowers growing
together on the spike. The blossom is of a beautiful bright
orange-vermilion, and the lip is edged with white. It is a
free-flowering plant, blooming in March, April, and May, and continuing
its inflorescence for four or five weeks.
We find it to succeed well potted in fibrous peat, to which must be
added good drainage, and a liberal supply of water during the time of
its growth. The soil should also be kept moist through the resting
season, so that the bulbs and foliage may be kept plump, as the bulbs
being very thin, they require a more constant supply of nourishment than
those of plants which have bulbs of a more substantial character. We
have grown these plants in the Cattleya house, as near the light as
possible, for they grow weakly if far off the light, though they require
shading from the burning sun. They must also be kept free from insects.
Lælia amanda (_Cattleya Rothschildiana_).—This fine species, or natural
hybrid, is cultivated under the two names above quoted, as we learn from
a letter which accompanied some flowers of the plant, for which we are
indebted to W. E. Brymer, Esq., Ilsington House, Puddleton, near
Dorchester, and of which our artist has taken advantage to secure a
drawing for the _Orchid Album_. The flowers somewhat resemble in
character those of _Cattleya maxima_, but the stems (pseudobulbs) and
foliage are quite distinct, being two-leaved, while the flowers are more
chaste-looking than those of that species. The plant is very beautiful,
and is a decided acquisition to this class of Lælias, the flowers being
bright rose veined with rosy purple, and produced in October, at a
season when there are but few Orchids in bloom, which makes it all the
more valuable.—B. S. W.
[Illustration: PL. 118.
ODONTOGLOSSUM ALEXANDRÆ COOKSONII.]
ODONTOGLOSSUM ALEXANDRÆ COOKSONII.
[Plate 118.]
Native of New Grenada.
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