Type Of Orchid
L. autumnalis. Habitat Mexico. Bloom late fall and early winter. Showy, fragrant, prolific. Lavender; white throat flushed pink, spotted purple with a touch of yellow.
L. Gouldiana (goold'i-an'a). Habitat Mexico. A more brilliant autumnalis but considered a separate species.
L. grandiflora (gran'di-flor-a), or majalis (ma-hal'iss). Habitat Mexico. Blooms June, July. Dwarf plant with startlingly large flowers for its size, some¬times six inches across. Pink lavender; lip marked mauve.
L. purpurata (purr'purr-a-ta). Habitat Guatemala. Blooms May to July. Flowers large, with narrow, pink-lavender sepals; petals also narrow, darker, and rich dark purple; lip veined purple; decided yellow at throat. Good parent because of vigorous growth and strong color. Many fine varieties. Alba variety is pure white or has purple lip.
L. superbiens (su-per'bi-ens). Habitat Mexico and Guatemala. Blooms De¬cember to February. Many blossoms to a stem; large sepals and petals rose fading at the base; lip veined with deep crimson and lined with yellow and deeper crimson.
L. tenebrosa (ten'e-bro-sa), also called L. grandis var. tenebrosa. Habitat Guatemala. Blooms June, July. Flowers large, purplish-brown; deep purple lip. Used in hybridizing, this plant imparts a rich iridescent sheen to its progeny.
L. xanthina (x-an-theen'a). Habitat Guatemala. Blooms June, July. Flowers large; sepals and petals clear yellow; front of throat white, flushed crimson-purple.
Brassavola Digbyana (brassa-vo'la or bras-sav'o-la dig'bi-an'a). Habitat Hon¬duras. Blooms during the winter months. Large flowers with spreading petals and sepals of chartreuse green; elaborately fringed cream-white lip tipped with purple. The lovely large lip makes it a desirable parent.
B. glauca (glaw'ka). Habitat Mexico and Guatemala. Blooms February, March. Plant compact with glaucous leaves (having the sheen of a light coat of whitewash or the iridescence of a plum). Flowers with greenish-yellow sepals and petals; lip expanded and pure white, with red streaks in the throat. Very fragrant.
B. nodosa (no-dose'a). Habitat Central America. Flowers entirely white; nar¬row sepals and petals; heart-shaped lip. Has been used infrequently as a parent, Sanders listing it only four times. The warm-growing evergreen Dendrobes include the following, to be accommodated in the warm house:
Dendrobium atro-violaceum (den-dro'bi-um atro'vee' or vie'o-lay'see-um). Hab¬itat New Guinea. Blooms April, May. Flowers creamy-white, leathery, spotted deep purple; rich violet throat; greenish outside. Should be hung up to be seen properly.
D. bigibbutn (bi-gib'bum). Habitat Australia. Blooms October to December. Handsome flowers rosy-purple, with broad petals.
D. densiflorum (dense'i-flor'um). Habitat India, Moulmein. Blooms March to May. Similar to thyrsiflorum; flowers slightly larger and all orange-yellow.
D. Farmeri (farm'er-ee or eye). Habitat India. Blooms April, May. Flowers delicate yellow, flushed pink.
D. thyrsiflorum (thur'si-flor-um). Habitat Moulmein. Blooms spring. Flowers like Chinese hanging lanterns of gold and white. The second division of the evergreen group of Dendrobiums coming from a higher elevation includes:
D. Dearei (dear'ee-eye or ee). Habitat the Philippines. Blooms July to Sep¬tember. Flowers pure white, tinged green at the throat.
D. Formosum (for-mo'sum). Habitat India. Blooms August, September. Flow¬ers large, with spade-shaped lip, white with rich gold at the throat.
D. infundibulum (in-fun-dib'u-lum). Habitat Moulmein. Blooms June through August. Flowers large and white, with a touch of yellow at the throat.
D. Jamesianum (james'ee-an-um). Habitat Moulmein. Blooming time varies. Nigro-hirsute (having dark hair-like projections on the stem) like infun¬dibulum and Formosum. Flowers white, with, red streaks in the throat.
D. Phalaenopsis (fay'len-op-sis or fay'lay'en-op-sis). Habitat the Philippines. Various blooming seasons. Flowers bloom singly along the stem; pink-lavender tinged with purple; base of lip drawn in to form a sort of claw.
The following belong to the group of deciduous Dendrobiums and may be accommodated during resting in a cooler spot:
D. aureum (or'ee-um). Habitat India, Assam, Ceylon, Java. Blooms October to March. Flowers golden, enhanced by velvety brown at the throat. Very fragrant.
D. nobile (no'bill-eh). Habitat India and China. Blooms prolifically January to June. Flowers striking; white sepals and petals, ivory-shaded; rosy-purple edges; a dark-red velvety spot in the throat.
D. superbum (su-per'bum). Habitat the Philippines. Blooms spring. Flowers a warm purple. Fragrance of raspberry jam or rhubarb.
D. Thwaitesii (D. Ainsworthii var. splendidissima grandiflorum x D. Wiga-niae). A lovely golden hybrid with the velvety brown spot in the throat, having both aurem and signatum (a pure yellow species) in the back¬ground to bring out the richness of color.
D. Wardianum (war-di-an'um or war-di-aye'num). Habitat Burma and Assam. Blooms May. Flowers white tipped with deep amethyst blotches; yellow disc on the lip; two dark red blotches at the throat.
Oncidium candidum (on-sid'i-um can'dee-dum). Habitat Guatemala. Blooms August to November. The plant very small, bearing six flowers to a stem; white, tinted pink.
O. crispum (crisp'um). Habitat Organ Mountains, Brazil. Blooms various times. Pseudobulbs on creeping rhizome bear two olive-green leaves and stout erect stems with 20 to 50 flowers, shiny brown, flecked yellow and red at the base.
O. flexuosum (flex-u-o'sum). Habitat Peru. Blooms fall months. Very long scapes (stems) crowded with golden-yellow flowers, flecked brown.
O. Kramerianum (kramer-i-an'um). Habitat Ecuador. Blooms similar to papilio but showier, the flowers being heavily margined in brown, the side sepals and bottom petal very wavy, the dorsal sepal and two side petals elon¬gated to resemble butterfly feelers.
O. Lanceanum (lance-ee-an'um). Habitat Trinidad and Guiana. Blooms sum¬mer. No pseudobulbs. Leaves very large, stiff, rough-textured, tending to spot; scapes bearing flowers in stiff bunch at the end; petals and sepals delicately waved and greenish-yellow, heavily barred with rosy-brown; lip deep violet.
O. macranthum (ma-kran'thum). Habitat tropical America. Blooms spring and summer. Scapes up to 12 feet long; perhaps 75 flowers about 4 inches across. Crisp, wavy sepals, yellowish-brown; bright yellow petals; triangular purple lip.
O. ornithorynchum (or'nith-or-in'kum). Habitat Mexico and Guatemala. Blooms summer. Many tiny, jewel-like flowers, rose-lavender; darker lip, crested yellow. Fragrant.
O. papilio (pa-pill'i-o). Habitat West Indies. Blooming time varies. Many species of orchids lend themselves to descriptive names, like fly, dove, spider, et cetera; none is more fitting than this 'butterfly.' The pseudo-bulbs are very compressed, mottled purplish, bearing a long scape, a flower appearing at the end as a preceding one dies. The sepals and petals are reddish-brown, barred yellow; lip canary-yellow. Long feelers add to the illusion of a gorgeous tropical insect.
O. splendidum (splen'di-dum). Habitat Guatemala. Blooms autumn. Flowers 3 inches across, yellow-green with broad brown bands; kidney-shaped lip yellow.
O. varicosum (var-i-co'sum). Habitat Brazil. Blooms autumn. Prolific with large flowers; petals and sepals dull green with brown bands; ornate, bright yellow lip.
O. varicosum var. Rogersii (roj'ers-ee or eye). Most handsome and popular of the Oncidium genus. The lip is sometimes 2% inches across; coloring as in the type.
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