About Orchids, a Chat — 10 - Chapter Six: Hot Orthids, Section 2
Phaloenopsis, of course, are hot.
This is one of our oldest genera which still rank in the first class.
It was drawn and described so early as 1750, and a plant reached Messrs. Rollisson in 1838; they sold it to the Duke of Devonshire for a hundred guineas.
Many persons regard Phaloenopsis as the loveliest of all, and there is no question of their supreme beauty, though not everyone may rank them first.
They come mostly from the Philippines, but Java, Borneo, Cochin China, Burmah, even Assam contribute some species.
Colonel Berkeley found _Ph.
tetraspis_, snow-white, and _Ph.
speciosa_, purple, in the Andamans, when he was Governor of that settlement, clinging to low bushes along the mangrove creeks.
So far as I know, all the species dwell within breath of the sea, as it may be put, where the atmosphere is laden with salt; this gives a hint to the thoughtful.
Mr. Partington, of Cheshunt, who was the most renowned cultivator of the genus in his time, used to lay down salt upon the paths and beneath the stages of his Phaloenopsis house.
Lady Howard de Walden stands first, perhaps, at the present day, and her gardener follows the same system.
These plants, indeed, are affected, for good or ill, by influences too subtle for our perception as yet.
Experiment alone will decide whether a certain house, or a certain neighbourhood even, is agreeable to their taste.
It is a waste of money in general to make alterations; if they do not like the place they won't live there, and that's flat!
It is probable that Maidstone, where Lady Howard de Walden resides, may be specially suited to their needs, but her ladyship's gardener knows how to turn a lucky chance to the best account.
Some of his plants have ten leaves!
--the uninitiated may think that fact grotesquely undeserving of a note of exclamation, but to explain would be too technical.
It may be observed that the famous Swan orchid, _Cycnoches chlorochilon_, flourishes at Maidstone as nowhere else perhaps in England.
Phaloenopsis were first introduced by Messrs. Rollisson, of Tooting, a firm that vanished years ago, but will live in the annals of horticulture as the earliest of the great importers.
In 1836 they got home a living specimen of _Ph.
amabilis_, which had been described, and even figured, eighty years before.
A few months later the Duke of Devonshire secured _Ph.
Schilleriana_.
The late Mr. B.
S.
Williams told me a very curious incident relating to this species.
It comes from the Philippines, and exacts a very hot, close atmosphere of course.
Once upon a time, however, a little piece was left in the cool house at Holloway, and remained there some months unnoticed by the authorities.
When at length the oversight was remarked, to their amaze this stranger from the tropics, abandoned in the temperate zone, proved to be thriving more vigorously than any of his fellows who enjoyed their proper climate!
--so he was left in peace and cherished as a "phenomenon."
Four seasons had passed when I beheld the marvel, and it was a picture of health and strength, flowering freely; but the reader is not advised to introduce a few Phaloenopsis to his Odontoglossums--not by any means.
Mr. Williams himself never repeated the experiment.
It was one of those delightfully perplexing vagaries which the orchid-grower notes from time to time.
There are rare species of this genus which will not be found in the dealers' catalogues, and amateurs who like a novelty may be pleased to hear some names.
_Ph.
Manni_, christened in honour of Mr. Mann, Director of the Indian Forest Department, is yellow and red; _Ph.
cornucervi_, yellow and brown; _Ph.
Portei_, a natural hybrid, of _Ph.
rosea_ and _Ph.
Aphrodite_, white, the lip amethyst.
It is found very, very rarely in the woods near Manilla.
Above all, _Ph.
Sanderiana_, to which hangs a little tale.
So soon as the natives of the Philippines began to understand that their white and lilac weeds were cherished in Europe, they talked of a scarlet variety, which thrilled listening collectors with joy; but the precious thing never came to hand, and, on closer inquiry, no responsible witness could be found who had seen it.
Years passed by and the scarlet Phaloenopsis became a jest among orchidaceans.
The natives persisted, however, and Mr. Sander found the belief so general, if shadowy, that when a service of coasting steamers was established, he sent Mr. Roebelin to make a thorough investigation.
His enterprise and sagacity were rewarded, as usual.
After floating round for twenty-five years amidst derision, the rumour proved true in part.
_Ph.
Sanderiana_ is not scarlet but purplish rose, a very handsome and distinct species.
To the same collector we owe the noblest of Aerides, _A.
Lawrenciæ_, waxy white tipped with purple, and deep purple lip.
Besides the lovely colouring it is the largest by far of that genus.
Mr. Roebelin sent two plants from the Far East; he had not seen the flower, nor received any description from the natives.
Mr. Sander grew them in equal ignorance for three years, and sent one to auction in blossom; it fell to Sir Trevor Lawrence's bid for 235 guineas.
[Illustration: COELOGENE PANDURATA.
Reduced to One Sixth] Many of the Coelogenes classed as cool, which, indeed, rub along with Odontoglossums, do better in the stove while growing.
_Coel.
cristata_ itself comes from Nepaul, where the summer sun is terrible, and it covers the rocks most exposed.
But I will only name a few of those recognized as hot.
Amongst the most striking of flowers, exquisitely pretty also, is _Coel.
pandurata_, from Borneo.
Its spike has been described by a person of fine fancy as resembling a row of glossy pea-green frogs with black tongues, each three inches in diameter.
The whole bloom is brilliantly green, but several ridges clothed with hairs as black and soft as velvet run down the lip, seeming to issue from a mouth.
It is strange to see that a plant so curious, so beautiful, and so sweet should be so rarely cultivated; I own, however, that it is very unwilling to make itself at home with us.
_Coel.
Dayana_, also a native of Borneo, one of our newest discoveries, is named after Mr. Day, of Tottenham.
I may interpolate a remark here for the encouragement of poor but enthusiastic members of our fraternity.
When Mr. Day sold his collection lately, an American "Syndicate" paid 12,000l.
down, and the remaining plants fetched 12,000l.
at auction; so, at least, the uncontradicted report goes.
_Coel.
Dayana_ is rare, of course, and dear, but Mr. Sander has lately imported a large quantity.
The spike is three feet long sometimes, a pendant wreath of buff-yellow flowers broadly striped with chocolate.
_Coel.
Massangeana_, from Assam, resembles this, but the lip is deep crimson-brown, with lines of yellow, and a white edge.
Newest of all the Coelogenes, and supremely beautiful, is _Coel.
Sanderiana_, imported by the gentleman whose name it bears.
He has been called "The Orchid King."
This superb species has only flowered once in Europe as yet; Baron Ferdinand Rothschild is the happy man.
Its snow-white blooms, six on a spike generally, each three inches across, have very dark brown stripes on the lip.
It was discovered in Borneo by Mr. Forstermann, the same collector who happed upon the wondrous scarlet Dendrobe, mentioned in a former chapter.
There I stated that Baron Schroeder had three pieces; this was a mistake unfortunately.
Mr. Forstermann only secured three, of which two died on the journey.
Baron Schroeder bought the third, but it has perished.
No more can be found as yet.
Of Oncidiums there are many that demand stove treatment.
The story of _Onc.
splendidum_ is curious.
It first turned up in France some thirty years ago.
A ship's captain sailing from St. Lazare brought half a dozen pieces, which he gave to his "owner," M. Herman.
The latter handed them to MM.
Thibaut and Ketteler, of Sceaux, who split them up and distributed them.
Two of the original plants found their way to England, and they also appear to have been cut up.
A legend of the King Street Auction Room recalls how perfervid competitors ran up a bit of _Onc.
splendidum_, that had only one leaf, to thirty guineas.
The whole stock vanished presently, which is not surprising if it had all been divided in the same ruthless manner.
From that day the species was lost until Mr. Sander turned his attention to it.
There was no record of its habitat.
The name of the vessel, or even of the captain, might have furnished a clue had it been recorded, for the shipping intelligence of the day would have shown what ports he was frequenting about that time.
I could tell of mysterious orchids traced home upon indications less distinct.
But there was absolutely nothing.
Mr. Sander, however, had scrutinized the plant carefully, while specimens were still extant, and from the structure of the leaf he formed a strong conclusion that it must belong to the Central American flora; furthermore, that it must inhabit a very warm locality.
In 1882 he directed one of his collectors, Mr. Oversluys, to look for the precious thing in Costa Rica.
Year after year the search proceeded, until Mr. Oversluys declared with some warmth that _Onc.
splendidum_ might grow in heaven or in the other place, but it was not to be found in Costa Rica.
But theorists are stubborn, and year after year he was sent back.
At length, in 1882, riding through a district often explored, the collector found himself in a grassy plain, dotted with pale yellow flowers.
He had beheld the same many times, but his business was orchids.
On this occasion, however, he chanced to approach one of the masses, and recognized the object of his quest.
It was the familiar case of a man who overlooks the thing he has to find, because it is too near and too conspicuous.
But Mr. Oversluys had excuse enough.
Who could have expected to see an Oncidium buried in long grass, exposed to the full power of a tropic sun?
_Oncidium Lanceanum_ is, perhaps, the hottest of its genus.
Those happy mortals who can grow it declare they have no trouble, but unless perfectly strong and healthy it gets "the spot," and promptly goes to wreck.
In the houses of the "New Plant and Bulb Company," at Colchester--now extinct--_Onc.
Lanceanum_ flourished with a vigour almost embarrassing, putting forth such enormous leaves, as it hung close to the glass, as made blinds quite superfluous at midsummer.
But this was an extraordinary case.
Certainly it is a glorious spectacle in flower--yellow, barred with brown; the lip violet.
The spikes last a month in full beauty--sometimes two.
An Oncidium which always commands attention from the public and grateful regard from the devotee is _Onc.
papilio_.
Its strange form fascinated the Duke of Devonshire, grandfather to the present, who was almost the first of our lordly amateurs, and tempted him to undertake the explorations which introduced so many fine plants to Europe.
The "Butterfly orchid" is so familiar that I do not pause to describe it.
But imagine that most interesting flower all blue, instead of gold and brown!
I have never been able to learn what was the foundation of the old belief in such a marvel.
But the great Lindley went to his grave in unshaken confidence that a blue _papilio_ exists.
Once he thought he had a specimen; but it flowered, and his triumph had to be postponed.
I
myself heard of it two years back, and tried to cherish a belief that the news was true.
A friend from Natal assured me that he had seen one on the table of the Director of the Gardens at Durban; but it proved to be one of those terrestrial orchids, so lovely and so tantalizing to us, with which South Africa abounds.
Very slowly do we lengthen the catalogue of them in our houses.
There are gardeners, such as Mr. Cook at Loughborough, who grow _Disa grandiflora_ like a weed.
Mr. Watson of Kew demonstrated that _Disa racemosa_ will flourish under conditions easily secured.
I had the good fortune to do as much for _Disa Cooperi_, though not by my own skill.
One supreme little triumph is mine, however.
In very early days, when animated with the courage of utter ignorance, I bought eight bulbs of _Disa discolor_, and flowered them, every one!
No mortal in Europe had done it before, nor has any tried since, I charitably hope, for a more rubbishing bloom does not exist.
But there it was--_Ego feci_!
And the specimen in the Herbarium at Kew bears my name.
But legends should not be disregarded when it is certain that they reach us from a native source.
Some of the most striking finds had been announced long since by observant savages.
I have told the story of _Phaloenopsis Sanderiana_.
It was a Zulu who put the discoverer of the new yellow Calla on the track.
The blue Utricularia had been heard of and discredited long before it was found--Utricularias are not orchids indeed, but only botanists regard the distinction.
The natives of Assam persistently assert that a bright yellow Cymbidium grows there, of supremest beauty, and we expect it to turn up one day; the Malagasy describe a scarlet one.
But I am digressing.
Epidendrums mostly will bear as much heat as can be given them while growing; all demand more sunshine than they can get in our climate.
Amateurs do not seem to be so well acquainted with the grand things of this genus as they should be.
They distrust all imported Epidendrums.
Many worthless species, indeed, bear a perplexing resemblance to the finest; so much so, that the most observant of authorities would not think of buying at the auction-room unless he had confidence enough in the seller's honesty to accept his description of a "lot."
Gloriously beautiful, however, are some of those rarely met with; easy to cultivate also, in a sunny place, and not dear.
_Epid.
rhizophorum_ has been lately rechristened _Epid.
radicans_--a name which might be confined to the Mexican variety.
For the plant recurs in Brazil, practically the same, but with a certain difference.
The former grows on shrubs, a true epiphyte; the latter has its bottom roots in the soil, at foot of the tallest trees, and runs up to the very summit, perhaps a hundred and fifty feet.
The flowers also show a distinction, but in effect they are brilliant orange-red, the lip yellow, edged with scarlet.
Forty or fifty of them hanging in a cluster from the top of the raceme make a show to remember.
Mr. Watson "saw a plant a few years ago, that bore eighty-six heads of flowers!"
They last for three months.
_Epid.
prismatocarpum_, also, is a lovely thing, with narrow dagger-like sepals and petals, creamy-yellow, spotted black, lip mauve or violet, edged with pale yellow.
Of the many hot Dendrobiums, Australia supplies a good proportion.
There is _D.
bigibbum_, of course, too well known for description; it dwells on the small islands in Torres Straits.
This species flowered at Kew so early as 1824, but the plant died.
Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney, re-introduced it thirty years later.
_D.
Johannis_, from Queensland, brown and yellow, streaked with orange, the flowers curiously twisted.
_D.
superbiens_, from Torres Straits, rosy purple, edged with white, lip crimson.
Handsomest of all by far is _D.
phaloenopsis_.
It throws out a long, slender spike from the tip of the pseudo-bulb, bearing six or more flowers, three inches across.
The sepals are lance-shaped, and the petals, twice as broad, rosy-lilac, with veins of darker tint; the lip, arched over by its side lobes, crimson-lake in the throat, paler and striped at the mouth.
It was first sent home by Mr. Forbes, of Kew Gardens, from Timor Laüt, in 1880. But Mr. Fitzgerald had made drawings of a species substantially the same, some years before, from a plant he discovered on the property of Captain Bloomfield, Balmain, in Queensland, nearly a thousand miles south of Timor.
Mr. Sander caused search to be made, and he has introduced Mr. Fitzgerald's variety under the name of _D.
ph.
Statterianum_.
It is smaller than the type, and crimson instead of lilac.
Bulbophyllums rank among the marvels of nature.
It is a point comparatively trivial that this genus includes the largest of orchids and, perhaps, the smallest.
_B.
Beccarii_ has leaves two feet long, eighteen inches broad.
It encircles the biggest tree in one clasp of its rhizomes, which travellers mistake for the coil of a boa constrictor.
Furthermore, this species emits the vilest stench known to scientific persons, which is a great saying.
But these points are insignificant.
The charm of Bulbophyllums lies in their machinery for trapping insects.
Those who attended the Temple show last year saw something of it, if they could penetrate the crush around _B.
barbigerum_ on Sir Trevor Lawrence's stand.
This tiny but amazing plant comes from Sierra Leone.
The long yellow lip is attached to the column by the slenderest possible joint, so that it rocks without an instant's pause.
At the tip is set a brush of silky hairs, which wave backwards and forwards with the precision of machinery.
No wonder that the natives believe it a living thing.
The purpose of these arrangements is to catch flies, which other species effect with equal ingenuity if less elaboration.
Very pretty too are some of them, as _B.
Lobbii_.
Its clear, clean, orange-creamy hue is delightful to behold.
The lip, so delicately balanced, quivers at every breath.
If the slender stem be bent back, as by a fly alighting on the column, that quivering cap turns and hangs imminent; another tiny shake, as though the fly approached the nectary, and it falls plump, head over heels, like a shot, imprisoning the insect.
Thus the flower is impregnated.
If we wished to excite a thoughtful child's interest in botany--not regardless of the sense of beauty either--we should make an investment in _Bulbophyllum Lobbii_.
_Bulbophyllum Dearei_ also is pretty--golden ochre spotted red, with a wide dorsal sepal, very narrow petals flying behind, lower sepals broadly striped with red, and a yellow lip, upon a hinge, of course; but the gymnastic performances of this species are not so impressive as in most of its kin.
A new Bulbophyllum, _B.
Godseffianum_, has lately been brought from the Philippines, contrived on the same principle, but even more charming.
The flowers, two inches broad, have the colour of "old gold," with stripes of crimson on the petals, and the dorsal sepal shows membranes almost transparent, which have the effect of silver embroidery.
Until _B.
Beccarii_ was introduced, from Borneo, in 1867, the Grammatophyllums were regarded as monsters incomparable.
Mr. Arthur Keyser, Resident Magistrate at Selangor, in the Straits Settlement, tells of one which he gathered on a Durian tree, seven feet two inches high, thirteen feet six inches across, bearing seven spikes of flower, the longest eight feet six inches--a weight which fifteen men could only just carry.
Mr. F.
W.
Burbidge heard a tree fall in the jungle one night when he was four miles away, and on visiting the spot, he found, "right in the collar of the trunk, a Grammatophyllum big enough to fill a Pickford's van, just opening its golden-brown spotted flowers, on stout spikes two yards long."
It is not to be hoped that we shall ever see monsters like these in Europe.
The genus, indeed, is unruly.
_G.
speciosum_ has been grown to six feet high, I believe, which is big enough to satisfy the modest amateur, especially when it develops leaves two feet long.
The flowers are--that is, they ought to be--six inches in diameter, rich yellow, blotched with reddish purple.
They have some giants at Kew now, of which fine things are expected.
_G.
Measureseanum_, named after Mr. Measures, a leading amateur, is pale buff, speckled with chocolate, the ends of the sepals and petals charmingly tipped with the same hue.
Within the last few months Mr. Sander has obtained _G.
multiflorum_ from the Philippines, which seems to be not only the most beautiful, but the easiest to cultivate of those yet introduced.
Its flowers droop in a garland of pale green and yellow, splashed with brown, not loosely set, as is the rule, but scarcely half an inch apart.
The effect is said to be lovely beyond description.
We may hope to judge for ourselves in no long time, for Mr. Sander has presented a wondrous specimen to the Royal Gardens, Kew.
This is assuredly the biggest orchid ever brought to Europe.
Its snakey pseudo-bulbs measure nine feet, and the old flower spikes stood eighteen feet high.
It will be found in the Victoria Regia house, growing strongly.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 6: _Vanda Lowii_ is properly called _Renanthera Lowii_.
] [Footnote 7: _Vide_ page 100. ]
