ODÜNTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM /./w/,
VAR. MUNÜYANUM Wr,-.
ONONTOGLOSSUM CBIS:
plciomorpliis ; scpnlis oblongis a<
1, Lindl.: Pscmlobulbis pyriforrais comprcssis diphyllis ; folüs cmcnlo-oblongis acmis; pcdunculo plurifioro •
Ilncat0-c3b Ollffis a ., . cmi. i.v.,,? .VM..». , . '. , ! .
„„..s : pcalis cunoato-oblong-s aculs, margine v:.riÌ5, SEpe crispís vcl serrati. ; bbdio uxigiic brevi siipr
- - cordato-oblonga obtusiuscula dcnliculal^i crispóla, carinis basi in discum temis ar - ' "
Inmcllas disci cxcuiilibus, saipc rhombcas ; columna trigona medium versus aiigiilata, alis
ni-obìongis rhombois la.^,^,-»^,,!,,,,,,».
d., l-ol. Orch,, Odont., p. 20 ; Kchb. f, ir
); «ciclicnbachia, I, l. 1.
:., t 5591 (var. Triana) ; (. 3697 (var. p
15 ; Flore des Serres, t. 1652
OPOXTOiiLassùM CUISPUM, Lindi, in Ann. Nat. |-|i<t., scr. i., xv. (1845), p. 256
Williams' Orch. Alb., l., t. 43 (var. flavcolum) ; Warner, Sci. Orcll., .scr, t. 23 {var. Wan
ODONTOGLOSSUM ALEXANDRE, Hatcm. in Card, Cliroii., 1864Ì p. 1083 ; Boi. ^
Alb., I„ l, 47r id., III. t. 118 (var. Cooksonii), l. r27 (var. Slcvcnsii).
ODONTOCLOSSUM BLUNTII, Rchb. f. in Molli imd Schicclit. Boi. Zcit., !864, p. 4
VAR. ML/NNVANUM: ñores speciosissimi, sc]ifilis petat'
ON'LY few of the big blotched and spotted O. crispum out of the many thousands of plants imported and established
have appeared. The variety wo here illustrate is one of these large spotted ones, and ranges among the kings of
Odontoglots. One often asks the question—How did such wonderfully blotched flowers api)ear, and what is their
o r i g i n ? Certainly five thousand have to bloom before such a treasure is secured ; they all come from one and the
same district, and the blood of an allied s|3ecies is not in them. Of this we are certain. The colour of this variety is
particularly brilliant in the magenta-purple on the back of the flowers, and the intensity of the spots more so than any of
its rivals. This is, perhaps, accounted for by the greater thickness in the texture of the flower, the whole surface of
which sparkles with a mass of crystals, these little prisms being the means by which colour is, to a great extent,
produced in flowers. It is curious how this magenta colour pei'vades most orchids — in fact, it is rarely absent
altogether unless in white varieties. Even in so-called blue orchids, like Vanda cceruica and Bolleas, the magenta is in
the blue, and, by comparison with the Gentian, they arc quite purple. In other Rowers the magenta purple is only to be
found in a modified sense, and this in very few indeed; and so one might state that the colour in orchids is quite
difTerent from other flowers. It may account for some people objecting to this colour, being .so rarely seen before
orchids came into general cultivation- It comes as something quite new ; and, having no associations, it does not
directly appeal to us, but of its beauty there is no doubt.
The culture of Odontoglossum crispum is now so well known that we feel it to be unnecessary to repeat it here.
Our plate was wkcti frnm a pl;int tiiat flowered in niir csBbiishmcnI.