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THE WOODLANDS ORCHIDS
[Illustration: ZYGO-COLAX x WOODLANDSENSE.]
THE WOODLANDS ORCHIDS
DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED
_WITH STORIES OF ORCHID-COLLECTING_
BY
FREDERICK BOYLE
Author of 'Camp Notes,' 'Legends of My Bungalow,'
'About Orchids, A Chat,' etc, etc, etc.
_COLOURED PLATES BY J. L. MACFARLANE, F.R.H.S._
London
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1901
_All rights reserved_
This work is not of the class which needs a Preface. But to the Editors of
the _Pall Mall Gazette_, _Sunday Times_, _Black and White_, _Chambers's
Journal_, _Wide Wide World_, and _Badminton Magazine_ I am indebted for
license to republish my stories of Orchid-seeking, and it is pleasant to
acknowledge their courtesy. If those tales amuse the general reader, I
trust that other portions of the work will be found not uninteresting, nor
even unprofitable, by orchid-growers. Plain descriptions of scarce species
and varieties are not readily accessible. A mere list of the hybrids in
the Woodlands collection would be found useful, pending the issue of that
international catalogue which must be undertaken shortly; but beyond this
I have noted the peculiarities of colour and form in such of the progeny
as seemed most curious. No doubt many experts will wish that I had
described some which are passed over and omitted some described--without
agreeing among themselves in either case perhaps. But I have done my best.
CONTENTS
PAGE
HOW THE COLLECTION WAS FORMED 1
THE CATTLEYA HOUSE 7
A LEGEND OF ROEZL 17
THE CATTLEYA HOUSE--_Continued_ 25
A STORY OF CATTLEYA BOWRINGIANA 37
A STORY OF CATTLEYA MOSSIAE 45
CYPRIPEDIUM INSIGNE 53
STORY OF CATTLEYA SKINNERI ALBA 59
THE PHALAENOPSIS HOUSE 67
STORY OF VANDA SANDERIANA 71
STORY OF PHALAENOPSIS SANDERIANA 79
HYBRID CATTLEYAS AND LAELIAS 87
A LEGEND OF MADAGASCAR 99
LAELIA PURPURATA 107
STORY OF DENDROBIUM SCHROeDERIANUM 113
STORY OF DENDROBIUM LOWII 121
CALANTHE HOUSE 129
STORY OF COELOGYNE SPECIOSA 135
CATTLEYA LABIATA HOUSE 143
A STORY OF BRASSAVOLA DIGBYANA 151
LYCASTES, SOBRALIAS, AND ANGULOAS 159
STORY OF SOBRALIA KIENASTIANA 163
THE CYPRIPEDIUM HOUSE 171
STORY OF CYPRIPEDIUM CURTISII 183
CYPRIPEDIUMS--_Continued_ 191
STORY OF CYPRIPEDIUM PLATYTAENIUM 205
STORY OF CYPRIPEDIUM SPICERIANUM 213
THE COOL HOUSE 221
STORY OF ODONTOGLOSSUM HARRYANUM 229
MASDEVALLIAS 237
ONCIDIUMS 239
STORY OF ONCIDIUM SPLENDIDUM 241
LAELIA JONGHEANA 249
STORY OF BULBOPHYLLUM BARBIGERUM 253
INDEX 261
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Zygo-Colax, Woodlands variety _Frontispiece_
Laelia elegans cyanthus _To face page_ 16
" " Macfarlanei " 24
Cattleya Trianae Measuresiae " 35
" Schroderae Miss Mary Measures " 52
Cypripedium insigne Sanderae " 57
Laelia grandis tenebrosa, Walton Grange var. " 86
Cattleya labiata Measuresiana " 142
Lycaste Skinneri R. H. Measures " 160
Cypripedium William Lloyd " 182
" Rothwellianum " 190
" reticulatum, var. Bungerothi " 204
" Dr. Ryan " 219
Odontoglossum Rossii, Woodlands variety " 228
" x Harryano-crispum " 240
" coronarium " 256
HOW THE COLLECTION WAS FORMED
This question may be answered shortly; it was formed--at least the
beginning of it--under compulsion. After fifteen years of very hard work,
Mr. Measures broke down. The doctor prescribed a long rest, and insisted
on it; but the patient was equally determined not to risk the career just
opening, with an assurance of success, by taking a twelve-months' holiday.
Reluctantly the doctor sought an alternative. Yachting he
proposed--hunting--shooting; at length, in despair, horse-racing!
Zealously and conscientiously undertaken, that pursuit yields a good deal
of employment for the mind. And one who follows it up and down the country
must needs spend several hours a day in the open air. Such was the
argument; we may suspect that the good man had a sporting turn and hoped
to get valuable tips from a grateful client.
But nothing would suit. After days of cogitation, at his wits' end, the
doctor conceived an idea which might have occurred to some at the outset.
'Take a house in the suburbs,' he advised, 'with a large garden. Cultivate
some special variety of plant and make a study of it.' This commended
itself. As a boy Mr. Measures loved gardening. In the Lincolnshire hamlet
where he was born, the vicar took pride in his roses and things, as is the
wont of vicars who belong to the honest old school. It was an hereditary
taste with the Measures' kin. Forthwith a house, with seven acres of land
about it, was purchased at Streatham--'The Woodlands,' destined to win
renown in the annals of Orchidology.
But the special variety of plant had still to be selected. It was to be
something with a flower, as Mr. Measures understood; hardy, and so
interesting in some way, no matter what, that a busy man could find
distraction in studying it. Such conditions are not difficult for one
willing to spend hours over the microscope; but in that case, if the mind
were relieved, the body would suffer. At the present day orchids would
suggest themselves at once; but twenty or twenty-five years ago they were
not so familiar to the public at large. One friend proposed roses, another
carnations, a third chrysanthemums, and a fourth, fifth, and sixth
proposed chrysanthemums, carnations, and roses. Though the house and the
large garden had been provided, Mr. Measures did not see his way.
I am tempted to quote some remarks of my own, published in October 1892.
'I sometimes think that orchids were designed at their inception to
comfort the elect of human beings in this anxious age--the elect, I say,
among whom the rich may or may not be included. Consider! To generate them
must needs have been the latest "act of creation," as the ancient formula
goes--in the realm of plants and flowers at least. The world was old
already when orchids took place therein; for they could not have lived in
those ages which preceded the modern order. Doubtless this family sprang
from some earlier and simpler organisation, like all else. But the Duke of
Argyll's famous argument against the "Origin of Man" applies here: that
organisation could not have been an orchid. Its anatomy forbids
fertilisation by wind, or even, one may say, by accident. Insects are
necessary; in many cases insects of peculiar structure. Great was the
diversion of the foolish--eminent savants may be very foolish
indeed--when Darwin pronounced that if a certain moth, which he had never
seen nor heard of, were to die out in Madagascar, the noblest of the
Angraecums must cease to exist. To the present day no one has seen or
heard of that moth, but the humour of the assertion is worn out. Only
admiring wonder remains, for we know now that the induction is
unassailable. Upon such chances does the life of an orchid depend. It
follows that insects must have been well established before those plants
came into being; and insects in their turn could not live until the earth
had long "borne fruit after its kind."
'But from the beginning of things until this century, until this
generation, one might almost say--civilised man could not enjoy the
boon.... We may fancy the delight of the Greeks and the rivalry of
millionaires at Rome had these flowers been known. "The Ancients" were by
no means unskilful in horticulture--witness that astonishing report of the
display at the coronation of Ptolemy Philadelphus, given by Athenaeus. But
of course they could not have known how to begin growing orchids, even
though they obtained them--I speak of epiphytes and foreign species,
naturally. From the date of the Creation--which we need not fix--till the
end of the Eighteenth Century, ships were not fast enough to convey them
alive; a fact not deplorable since they would have been killed forthwith
on landing.
'... So I return to the argument. It has been seen that orchids are the
latest and most finished work of the Creator; that the blessing was
withheld from civilised man until, step by step, he gained the conditions
necessary to receive it. Order and commerce in the first place; mechanical
invention next, such as swift ships and easy communications; glass-houses,
and a means of heating them which could be regulated with precision and
maintained with no excessive care; knowledge both scientific and
practical; the enthusiasm of wealthy men; the thoughtful and patient
labour of skilled servants--all these were needed to secure for us the
delights of orchid culture. What boon granted to mankind stands in like
case? I think of none. Is it unreasonable then to believe, as was said,
that orchids were designed at their inception to comfort the elect in this
anxious age?'[1]
Mr. Measures, however, was quite unconscious of his opportunities. It was
mere chance which put him on the right track. Tempted by the prospect of
obtaining something, forgotten now, in the way of roses or carnations or
chrysanthemums, he attended a local sale. Presently some pots of
Cypripedium barbatum were put up, in bud and flower. They seemed curious
and pretty--he bought them. It was a relief to find that his gardener did
not show any surprise or embarrassment at the sight--appeared to be
familiar with the abnormal objects indeed. But it would have been
subversive of discipline to ask how they were called. So Mr. Measures
worked round and round the secret, putting questions--what heat did the
things require, what soil, would the green-house already built suit them,
and so forth? Finally, in talking, the gardener pronounced the
name--Cypripedium. Planting this long word deep and firm in his memory Mr.
Measures hurried to the house, looked it out in the multitudinous books on
gardening already stored there, and discovered that Cypripedium is an
orchid. Pursuing the investigation further, he learned that orchids are
the choicest of flowers, that several thousand species of them, all
beautiful and different, may be cultivated, that some are easy and some
difficult. It dawned upon him then that this might well be the special
variety of plant which would answer his purpose.
But he was not the man to choose a hobby without grave deliberation and
experiment. The very next essay, only three days afterwards, suggested a
doubt. He saw a plant of Dendrobium thyrsiflorum in flower, and carried it
home in a whirl of astonishment and delight; but next morning every bloom
had faded, and the gardener assured him that no more could be expected for
twelve months. This was a damper. Evidently a prudent person should think
twice before accumulating plants which flower but once a year, and then
last only four days. But just at that time, by good fortune, he made
acquaintance with Mr. Godseff who, in short, explained things--not too
hastily, but in a long course of instruction. And so, making sure of every
step as he advanced, Mr. Measures gradually formed the Woodlands
collection.
* * * * *
Perhaps it would be logical to describe the arrangement of our treasures.
But an account which might be useful would demand much space, and it could
interest very few readers. It may suffice, therefore, to note that there
are thirty-one 'houses,' distributed in nine groups, or detached
buildings. All through, the health and happiness of the plants are
consulted in the first place, the convenience of visitors in the second,
and show not at all; which is to say that the roofs are low, and the paths
allow two persons to walk abreast in comfort but no more.
The charge of these thirty-one houses is committed to Mr. J. Coles, with
thirteen subordinates regularly employed. Mr. Coles was bred if not born
among orchids, when his father had charge of the late Mr. Smee's admirable
garden, at Wallington. After rising to the post of Foreman there, he
entered the service of Captain Terry, Peterborough House, Fulham, as
Foreman of the orchid houses; but two years afterwards this fine
collection was dispersed, at Captain Terry's death. Then Mr. Coles went
to enlarge his experience in Messrs. Sander's vast establishment at St.
Albans. In due time the office of Orchid and Principal Foreman in the Duke
of Marlborough's houses was offered to him, and at Blenheim he remained
eight years. Thence he proceeded to the Woodlands.
[Illustration: MR. J. COLES.]
THE CATTLEYA HOUSE
Our Cattleya House is 187 feet long, 24 feet wide; glass screens divide it
into seven compartments. The roof, of a single span, is 11 feet high in
the centre, 4 feet at the sides.
The compartment we enter first is devoted to Laelia elegans mostly. On the
big block of tufa in front, blooms of Cattleya and Laelia are displayed
nearly all the year in small tubes among the ferns and moss; for we do not
exhaust our plants by leaving the flowers on them when fully open. Scarlet
Anthuriums crown the block, and among these, on the bare stone, is a
Laelia purpurata, growing strongly, worth observation. For this plant was
deadly sick last year, beyond hope of recovery; as an experiment Mr. Coles
set it on the tufa, wired down, and forthwith it began to pick up
strength. But in fact the species loves to fix itself on limestone when at
home in Santa Catarina, as does L. elegans.
It may be desirable to point out that the difference between Cattleyas and
Laelias as genera is purely 'botanical'--serious enough in that point of
view, but imperceptible to the eye.
A special glory of Woodlands is the collection of L. elegans. In this
house, where only the large plants are stored, we count five hundred;
seven hundred more are scattered up and down. Nowhere in the world can be
seen so many examples of this exquisite variety--certainly not in its
birthplace, for there it is very nearly exterminated. In such a multitude,
rare developments of form and colour must needs abound, for no orchid is
so variable. In fact, elegans is merely a title of convenience, with no
scientific value. It dwells--soon we must say it dwelt--in the closest
association with Laelia purpurata, Cattleya intermedia, and Cattleya
guttata Leopoldii; by the intermingling of these three it was assuredly
created. Mr. Rolfe has satisfied himself that the strain of Laelia
purpurata is always present. By alliance with Catt. Leopoldii the dark
forms were produced; by alliance with Catt. intermedia the white. Since
that misty era, of course, cross-fertilisation has continued without
ceasing, and the combinations are endless.
Evidently this suggestion is reasonable, but if an unscientific person may
venture to say so, it does not appear to be sufficient. Among six flowers
of L. elegans five will have sepals and petals more or less rosy, perhaps
only a shade, perhaps a tint so deep that it approaches crimson, like
Blenheimensis or Turneri. Could one of the three parents named supply this
colour? Two of them, indeed, are often rosy; in some rare instances the
hue of L. purpurata may be classed as deep rose. But these are such
notable exceptions that they would rather suggest a fourth parent, a red
Cattleya or Laelia, which has affected not elegans alone but purpurata and
intermedia also. Nothing of the sort exists now, I believe, in the island
of Santa Catarina. But we are contemplating aeons of time, and changes
innumerable may have occurred. The mainland is but a few miles away; once
Santa Catarina was attached to it. And there, a short distance to the
north, lives Laelia pumila, which might supply the rosy tinge.
Several artificial hybrids of Catt. guttata Leopoldii have been raised. By
alliance with Catt. Dowiana it produces Catt. Chamberlainiana; with Catt.
superba, Feuillata; with Catt. Hardyana, Fowlerii; with Catt. Loddigesii,
Gandii; with Catt. Mendelii, Harrisii; with Laelio-Cattleya Marion, C. H.
Harrington; with Catt. quadricolor, Mitchelii; with Catt. Warcewiczii,
Atalanta. Catt. Victoria Regina also is assumed to be a natural hybrid of
Leopoldii with Catt. labiata. There may be other crosses probably, since
no official record of Hybridisation exists as yet. Curiously enough,
however, no one seems to have mated Cattleya Leopoldii with Laelia
purpurata so far as I can learn. Thus it is not yet proved that L. elegans
sprang from that alliance.
But the hybridisers have an opening here not less profitable than
interesting. For the natural supply is exhausted--if any stickler for
accuracy object that some still arrive every year, they may overhaul their
Boswell and make a note. Sir, said his hero, if I declare that there is no
fruit in an orchard, I am not to be charged with speaking falsely because
a man, examining every tree, finds two apples and three pears--I have not
the book at hand to quote the very words. When L. elegans was discovered,
in 1847, it must have been plentiful in its native home beyond all other
species on record. The first collectors so described it. But that home was
a very small island, where it clung to the rocks. Every plant within reach
has long since been cleared away; those remaining dwell in perilous places
on the cliffs. To gather them a man must be let down from above, or he
must risk his life in climbing from below. But under these conditions the
process of extermination still proceeds, and in a time to be counted by
months it will be complete.
In describing a few of the most precious varieties at Woodlands, I may
group them in a manner to display by contrast the striking diversities
which an orchid may assume while retaining the essential points that
distinguish it from others. One form, however, I must mention here, for it
is too common to be classed among peculiarities, yet to my mind its
colouring is the softest and most dainty of all. Petal and sepal are
'stone-colour,' warmed, one cannot say even tinged, with crimson. Nature
has no hue more delicate or sweeter.
_Adonis._--Bright rosy petals--sepals paler--lip and edges of lobes
carmine.
_F. Sander._--The latest pseudo-bulb measures 2 feet 3 inches--topping the
best growth of its native forest by six inches; from base to top of the
spike, 4 feet less 1 inch, and as thick as a walking-cane. This grand
plant has been in cultivation for three years. The sepals and petals are
those of L. e. Turneri; the lip resembles a fine L. purpurata.
The plant next to this, unnamed, has pseudo-bulbs almost as long, but
scarcely thicker than straws.
_Empress._--A very dark form of Turneri.
_Medusa._--Tall, slender pseudo-bulbs--very dark.
_Neptune_, on the contrary, has pseudo-bulbs short and fat, whilst the
colouring is pale.
_H. E. Moojen._--Doubtless a natural hybrid with L. purpurata, which takes
equally after both parents.
_Godseffiana._--Nearly white; the broad lip carmine--lobes of the same
hue, widely expanded.
_Mrs. F. Sander._--A round flower, very dark rose; sepals and petals
dotted all over, as in Cattleya Leopoldii.
_Red King._--Yellowish throat. Lip good colour and round, but narrow,
without the prolongation of some or the lateral extension of others.
Curiously like the shape of L. Perrinii.
_Stella._--Dusky rose and similarly spotted, but different in
shape--sepals and petals much thinner.
_Boadicea._--Sepals and petals deep rose. Long shovel lip crimson-lake.
_H. G. Gifkins._--The sepals are palest green, with a rosy tinge; petals
pale mauve. The lip, maroon-crimson, spreads out broadly from a neck
almost half an inch long, and its deep colour stretches right up the
throat.
_Mrs. R. H. Measures._--Pure white, even the lip, except a touch of
purple-crimson in the centre and slender crimson veins.
_L.-C. Harold Measures._--A fine hybrid of L.e. Blenheimensis and Catt.
superba splendens, which takes mostly after the former in colouring, the
latter in shape. It is a round flower, with a crimson lip immensely broad;
two small yellow spots are half concealed beneath the tube. Sepals
greenish tawny, petals dull pink with crimson lines.
_Sade Lloyd._--A very pretty form. Sepals and petals rosy, tinted with
fawn colour. The crimson lip is edged with a delicate white line, as are
the lobes, which fold completely over the tube.
_Doctor Ryan_ is distinguished by a very long protruding lip.
_Ophelia._--As big and as round as Catt. Mossiae. Tube very thick and
wide.
_Macfarlanei._--We have two so named. In this grand example the
pseudo-bulbs are more than 2 feet high, proportionately thick. Eight or
nine flowers on the spike. Sepals and petals glaucous green. Long lip of
brightest crimson.
_Leucotata._--Sepals and petals white with rosy tips--lip white, saving
rosy lines and a rosy stain.
_Nyleptha._--Sepals and petals fawn colour, edged with rose. Very wide lip
of deepest crimson.
_Haematochila._--Sepals stone-colour flushed with pink, petals dusky pink.
Lip carmine-purple, rather narrow, shaped like a highly ornamental spade.
_Paraleuka._--All snowy white save the carmine lip, the form of which is
curiously neat and trim.
_Tenebrosa._--In this specially dark variety the tube is long, closely
folded, rose-white, with lines of crimson proceeding from the back. As
they meet at the lower edge they form a border as deep in hue as the lip.
But our darkest elegans, eighteen years in the collection, has not bloomed
for six seasons past.
_Schilleriana splendens._--Sepals and petals white, with a faintest rosy
tinge and a yellow stain on the midrib. Lip long, straight, forked at the
tip, liveliest crimson-purple.
_Stelzneriana._--Rosy-white. The crimson of the lip does not spread all
over but lies in a triangular blotch.
_Measuresiana._--Sepals greenish-yellow, the leaf-like petals similar,
pink towards the edges, lined with rose. Both spotted at the tip with
crimson. The lip is that of Catt. bicolor, short comparatively, straight,
and darkest crimson.
_Ladymead._--The white sepals and petals have a palest tinge of rose. On
the lip are two broad yellow eyes after the fashion of Catt. gigas.
_Venus._--Almost white. Petals veined, sepals dotted, with crimson--the
underside of both heavily stained. Lip almost fawn-colour at the edges,
with veins widening and deepening into crimson at the throat.
_Luculenta._--A very pretty hybrid of Messrs. Sander's raising, palest
mauve. Lip rather narrow but grand in colour. Shovel-shaped.
_Frederico._--A very odd variety--small. The stone-coloured sepals are
outlined with rose, the petals with purplish pink. Both are speckled with
brown. Lip brightest maroon-crimson, prettily scalloped.
_Platychila._--Pale purple. Remarkable for its immense crimson lip.
_Luciana._--Green petals, curling strongly towards the tip; petals
widening from the stalk like a leaf, pink with a green midrib. The lobes
white, narrow, square, and deepest crimson, the lip that of Catt. bicolor.
_Monica._--Snow-white. Petals broad, sepals strongly depressed. In the
middle of the spreading crimson lip is a patch almost white.
_Tautziana._--Sepals mauve, petals violet, somewhat darker, lip almost
maroon. It is singular in shape also, forked like a bird's tail.
_Blenheimensis._--Sepals and petals rose with a violet tinge; very broad
labellum with a distinct neck, emerging from a short tawny tube--carmine
in the throat, purplish at the edges.
_Macroloba._--The lobes here are white and enormous. Enormous also is the
lip, and singularly beautiful, deepest crimson at the throat, with a broad
purple margin netted over with crimson lines.
_Juno._--This also has a very large white tube. Sepals and petals rosy,
rather slender, fine crimson lip.
_Matuta._--Large, broad and shapely. Sepals greenish, with a pink tinge,
petals rosy-tawny. Tube very short, lip brightest crimson, standing out
clear as a flag.
_Minerva._--One of the most spreading, but thin. Colour rose, the petals
darker. Narrow sepals. Tube white. Lip carmine.
_Princess Stephanie._--Sepals bright green, petals slightly green, edged
with pale purple, and crimson lines. Bright lip after the model of Catt.
bicolor.
_Amphion._--A dark variety. The long lip has two eyes like Catt. gigas.
_Beatrice._--A hybrid of L.e. Schilleriana and L. purpurata, remarkable
for its lip, long and shovel-shaped, nearly the same breadth throughout.
_Morreniana._--Sepals dullish red purple--the lower strongly bowed, as are
the wide petals of similar hue. The lip spreads on either side of the
white tube like the wings of a purple-crimson butterfly.
_Mrs. Mahler._--A hybrid--Catt. Leop. x Catt. bicolor. Very small but
very pretty. Sepals palest green, petals almost white, tinged with pink at
the edges. The shovel-shaped lip pinkish crimson.
_Euracheilas._--Sepals dusky stone-colour, edged with pink, petals all
dusky pink. Very large but narrow. The maroon-crimson lip extends at right
angles from the tube, without any neck.
_Schilleriana._--The variety most clearly allied to L. purpurata. White or
palest rose of sepal and petal, the latter marked with purplish lines at
the base. Lip a grand purple-crimson, fading sharply towards the edges.
_Weathersiana._--Sepals palest tawny suffused with rose, petals mauve. The
broad lip of fine colour is so strongly indented that it resembles the
bipennis of the Amazons.
_Euspatha._--Reichenbach suggested that this is a hybrid of L. Boothiana
or L. purpurata with some Cattleya--probably intermedia. It is white, with
broad, sepals and petals. The tube is open nearly all its length, and the
wide lip of crimson, fading to purplish edges, shows scarcely an
indentation.
_Hallii._--Crimson-purple sepals--petals darker; the lip approaches
maroon.
_Oweniae._--In this case the sepals and petals--which are
leaf-shaped--stand out boldly, straight on end--rosy with mauve shading,
more pronounced in the latter; lip round, of a charming carmine.
_Incantans._--A very large and stately bloom. Sepals of the tender warm
stone so often mentioned, petals broad and waved, of the same colour down
the middle, flushing to rosy purple on each side. A fine crimson-velvet
lip.
_Melanochites_ is a very symmetrical flower, though not 'compact,' as the
phrase goes. All lively rose-lake, the petals a darker tone. The grand
broad lip of purple crimson has a pretty yellow blotch on either side
beneath the tube. It is sharply forked.
_Pyramus._--Sepals of the flushed stone-colour which I, at least, admire
so much; but the flush is more conspicuous than usual. Petals clear rose.
Lip vivid crimson, with the same yellow blotches under the white tube.
_Bella._--The purplish crimson sepals and petals are tipped with buff. Lip
shovel-shaped, dark crimson.
_Sappho._--Here the pale purple sepals only are tipped with buff, while
the petals, which curl over, are rose. The carmine of the lip is very
pretty.
_Macfarlanei II._--Sepals of the same colour, but greenish, strongly
marked with the distinctive spots of Catt. Leopoldii, edged with rose;
petals rose, lined with crimson on either side of the white midrib. The
long tube opening shows a strongly yellow throat. The labellum is short,
but superb in colour.
_Myersiana._--A large form. Sepals dusky, tinged with crimson at the
edges. Petals softly crimson. Very long tube. The crimson lip has a pale
margin, and a pale blotch in the front.
_Cleopatra._--One of the very best. Like that above in petal and sepal,
but paler. The broad tube, however, is snow-white, saving a touch of
magenta-crimson, bright as a ruby, at the tip of the lobes. And the lip,
finely frilled, is all magenta-crimson, with not a mark upon it from
throat to edge.
_Wolstenholmae._--White, the sepals tinted with purple. Petals broad, with
a purple outline. Lip narrow and long, of a colour unique, which may be
described as crimson-purple. In the throat are two curious white bars;
between them run arching purple lines close set, which, on the outer side
of the bars, extend to the edge of the lip. A very remarkable flower.
_Eximia._--Also very remarkable--not to say uncanny. The narrow sepals and
petals, almost white, have a mottling of rosy mauve along the edges,
which looks unwholesome, as if caused by disease. But the long
paddle-shaped lip, crimson, changing to purple as it expands, is very
fine. It has two pale yellow 'eyes' elongated in an extraordinary manner.
_Lord Roberts._--Very handsome and peculiar. The colour of the sepals,
strongly folded back, is warm grey, tinged and faintly lined with crimson;
this tinge is much more pronounced in the petals. The large tubular lip,
finely opened, is uniform crimson-magenta, not so dark as usual.
[Illustration: LAELIO-CATTLEYA x ELEGANS VAR. CYANTHUS.]
A LEGEND OF ROEZL
So soon as I began to take interest in orchids I was struck with the
number of odd facts and incidents in that field of botany. One gains but a
glimpse of them, as a rule, in some record of travel or some scientific
treatise; and at an early date it occurred to me that if the stories to
which these fragments belong could be recovered, they would prove to be
not only curious and interesting but amusing--sometimes terrible. I began
to collect, therefore, and in the pages following I offer some of the
results.
It is right to begin with a legend of Roezl, if only because his name will
often recur; but also he was incomparably the greatest of those able and
energetic men who have roamed the savage world in search of new plants for
our study and enjoyment. Almost any other mortal who had gone through
adventures and experiences such as his in our time would have made a book
and a sensation; but the great collector never published anything, I
believe, beyond a statement of scientific facts from time to time. This is
not the place to deal with his career; I am only telling stories. But it
is not to be dismissed without a word.
Roezl will be gratefully remembered so long as science and horticulture
survive the triumph of democracy. I have heard it alleged that he
discovered eight hundred new species of plant or tree. It is credible. In
the memoir published by the _Gardeners' Chronicle_, which was brief of
necessity, fourscore were enumerated, with the addition, here, of 'many
others,' there, of 'etc.' Roezl was no specialist. A wise regard for his
own interest confined him almost to orchids in the later years. But in his
catalogue of achievements I find new lilies, new conifers, fuchsias,
agaves, cacti, begonias, saxifrage, dahlias, convolvuli, tropaeolums,
tacsonias--a multitude, in fact, beyond reckoning. In one expedition he
sent eight tons of orchids to Europe; in another ten tons of cacti,
agaves, dion, and orchids! The record of his travels is startling; and it
must be observed that Roezl's first aim always was to escape from the
beaten track. His journeyings were explorations. Many an Indian tribe
never saw a white man before, and some, perhaps, have never seen one
since. Mexico was his first hunting-ground, and thither he returned more
than once; Cuba the second. Thence he was drawn to the Rocky Mountains,
California, and Sierra Nevada. Then in succession he visited Panama, New
Granada, Sierra Nevada again, California again, Washington Territory,
Panama again, Bonaventura, the Cauca valley, Antioquia, Northern Peru,
crossed the Andes, returned to Bonaventura, and thence to Europe. Starting
again he searched Colorado Territory, New Mexico, California, the Sierra
Madre; worked his way to Caracas, thence through Venezuela, crossed to
Cuba, to Vera Cruz, explored the state of Oajaca in Mexico, sailed to
Lima, crossed the Andes again to Tarma and Changamaga, back into Southern
Peru, wandered as far as the Lake of Titicaca, searched Bolivia, traversed
the Snowy Mountains to Yungas, back to Lima and Arica, crossed the Andes a
third time, visited Ecuador, and made his way back to the valley of the
Cauca. How many thousand miles of journeying this chronicle represents is
a problem for laborious youth. And the botanist uses roads, railways, and
horses only to get him from one scene of operations to another. He works
afoot.
It is good to know that Roezl had his reward. Eighteen years ago he died,
full of years and honours, in his native Bohemia. And the Kaiser himself
was represented by a high dignitary at the unveiling of his statue in
Prague.
The experiences I am about to tell were made in the course of that long
march through the woods from La Guayra in Venezuela to Ocana in New
Granada. Among the special trophies of it was Cattleya Roezlii, a variety
of Cattleya speciosissima; but I am not aware that the secluded tribe
whose habits interested Roezl so much had any immediate connection with
this plant. Perhaps before going further it may be well to note that any
assertion of the great Collector might be admitted not only as an honest
report, but also as a fact which he had verified, so far as was possible.
Dr. Johnson was not more careful to speak the whole truth and nothing but
the truth.
It was somewhere round the sources of the Amazons that Roezl sojourned for
a while in a village of those strange people whom the Spaniards call
Pintados--'painted' Indians. Their colour, in fact, is piebald--light
brown, dark brown, and a livid tint commonly described as red, in
blotches. They are seen occasionally in Guiana, more rarely in Venezuela
and Brazil. The colouring is ascribed to disease, rather because it is so
hideous and abnormal, perhaps, than for a solid reason. Roezl thought it
'natural.'
He was making his way through those endless forests by compass, with two
mestizos from Columbia who had served him on a former journey, and a negro
boy. For guides and carriers he depended on the Indians, who passed him
from settlement to settlement. It is fitting to observe here that Roezl
never carried firearms of any sort at any time--so he used to say. Of
great stature and prodigious muscle, utterly fearless, never unprepared,
happen what might, he passed forty years in such wandering as I have
outlined, and never had occasion to strike a blow. Several times he found
himself between contending factions, the armed mobs of Spanish America,
and lost everything; many times was he robbed, but never, I believe,
assaulted. Nerve and humour protected him. As for the wild Indians, I
fancy that they were overawed by his imposing appearance; and especially
by an iron hook which occupied the place of his left hand, smashed by an
accident.
This system of travelling at leisure from settlement to settlement enabled
him to pick up a few necessary words of each language, and to give warning
of his approach to the next tribe. The Pintados welcomed him in a quiet
fashion--that is, the chiefs did not object when he repaired an empty hut
and took possession. It was at the end of a long 'street,' parallel to the
river. The rude dwellings were not scattered. Each stood opposite to its
fellow across the way, and Roezl noticed a large flat stone in the middle
between every pair. Towards nightfall the Indians trooped back from their
fields; but all the women and grown girls entered at one end of the
village, the men at the other. This was curious. As they marched up, the
former dispersed in huts to the right hand, the latter to the left, each
sex keeping to its own side of the stones. After depositing their tools
the men came out and gathered silently around the strangers'
quarters--only very young children ran to and fro. After a time the women
reappeared with steaming calabashes, which they bore half across the road,
and set, each of them, on the stone before her dwelling. Then they
returned. Forthwith the males strolled back, carried the supper to their
respective huts, and in due time replaced the empty calabash upon the
stone, whence the women removed it.
It will be understood that these strange ceremonies interested Roezl.
Evidently the husbands lived on one side of the street, the wives and
young children on the other. The moon was full and he watched for hours.
After supper the males returned to squat and smoke around his hut,
scarcely speaking; but one after another they withdrew presently, each to
his own abode. So long as the moonlight enabled Roezl to observe, not one
crossed the way. And afterwards he discovered that this is an eternal
rule--a husband never enters his wife's dwelling. The separation of the
sexes is complete.
Long before satisfying himself on this point Roezl saw enough to convince
him that the usages of this secluded people must be well worth study. He
remained among them as long as he could, and even made memoranda--the
first and only time, I believe, that he kept records other than botanical
or scientific. It may be hoped that they survive and will come to light,
since his papers are now stored in the museum at Prague. I am dependent on
the memory of those whom he amused with curt stories of adventure over
pipe and glass on his visits to England. They are many, and they preserve
the liveliest remembrance of one to whom Johnson's remarks on the greatest
of modern orators are peculiarly applicable. 'If a man were to go by
chance at the same time with Burke under a shed to escape a shower, he
would say, "This is an extraordinary man."' Unfortunately, it is the most
striking observations alone which they recall, with but a vague impression
of others.
Every hearer asked, of course, how the race could avoid extinction under
such circumstances? But it appears that the separation is only public--an
exaggerated prudery, one might describe it, though we may be sure that the
sentiment lies infinitely deeper. The sexes work apart, as has been said;
after the men have cleared a piece of ground they leave it to the women,
and clear another for themselves. But when a youth has a mind to marry, in
the first place he builds a hut in the forest. Then he awaits the train of
women returning, steps gently among them, and takes the maiden of his
fancy by the hand. She throws him off at once if disinclined, and there is
an end of it; otherwise she suffers him to lead her a step before freeing
herself. Day after day in that case the invitation is repeated, and the
maiden takes two steps, then three, until at length she quits the
procession entirely and surrenders. There is no ceremony of marriage, but,
so far as Roezl could gather, the bond is absolutely sacred; in fact, if
we think of it, those conditions of life forbid intrigue. It should be
added that the other women and girls studiously ignore these proceedings,
and that till the last moment a damsel may change her mind, repulsing the
lover favoured hitherto.
A bride remains in the woodland hut for several weeks, not a soul visiting
her except the husband. Meantime he builds a 'town house' for himself, and
the mother or female relatives build one opposite for his wife. In fixing
the stone between them there is a ceremony, as Roezl gathered, but the
nature of it he was unable to understand. Though the pair never meet again
in public as long as they live, they spend as much time as they please
together in the forest. And really, after due consideration, I cannot but
think that the system shows remarkable sagacity. Truth compels me to add,
however, that Roezl suspected infanticide. We may hope he was mistaken.
Why should a people living as do these restrict the number of their
children? The battle for existence is not desperate with them apparently,
since they till the soil, and their territory, in effect, is boundless. No
Indian race of South America feels the pride of caste; if these do, they
are a notable exception in that as in other respects. Girls receive no
dower; the expense of marriage, as has been seen, is _nil_. Why should
they limit the family? We know that obvious reason does not always guide
the savage in his habits. But when a painful fact is not assured we may
allow ourselves the comfort of doubting it.
This is all I have been able to collect about a most extraordinary people.
My informants do not recollect, if they heard, whether the separation of
the sexes was peculiar to this clan or general among the Pintado Indians.
In fact, I have nothing more to say about them.
It was here, however, that Roezl met with an adventure which he often
told. His hut, as has been mentioned, was the last of the row--a ruin
patched up to keep the baggage dry. He always carried a folding tressle
and a light board to fix upon it, which made a sort of desk, with a
camp-stool to match. One evening he set himself as usual to write labels
and memoranda for his herbarium. The description of a curious plant
secured that day proved difficult, and darkness had long set in. So
absorbed was the enthusiast in dissecting its anatomy that he gave no
attention to a loud purr, though conscious of the sound for some moments.
At length he raised his eyes. By the open doorway stood a creature whose
dusky fur glistened like silk in the lamplight, and great yellow eyes
stared into his. It was a black jaguar, rarest and most savage of all
felines.
So they remained, staring. Roezl felt his hour had come. He could not have
moved a limb; his hair rose and the sweat poured down. The jaguar also
kept still, purring louder and louder. Its velvet lips were slightly
raised, showing a gleam of the huge fangs. Presently it drew nearer, still
purring--came up to the tressle--arched his back like a cat, and pressed
against it. Crash fell desk, lamp, specimen box, camp-stool and
enthusiast--a clattering overthrow! The servants rushed in. No jaguar was
there.
Roezl used to attribute his escape to the practice of never carrying arms.
When the brute was approaching, he must have fired had a weapon been
handy--no man could resist the impulse. And then, whatever the issue of
the shot, he would certainly have died.
[Illustration: LAELIO-CATTLEYA, x ELEGANS VAR. MACFARLANEI.]
THE CATTLEYA HOUSE
With L. elegans are lodged fine examples of Cattleyas gigas and aurea,
with some of their varieties; generated, as we may assume, by natural
hybridisation. These rank among the supreme treasures of the orchidist,
unequalled for size and rarity--perhaps for beauty. To those who have not
seen the offspring it might seem impossible that the stately loveliness of
the parents could be excelled. But by a very simple process Nature
achieves the feat--she combines their charms.
Of Cattleya gigas we have some two hundred specimens. It is the largest of
the genus, saving its own hybrids, a native of New Granada, discovered by
Warcewicz in 1848. He sent no plants home, and though a few were
despatched afterwards, Roezl practically introduced the species in 1870.
Conscious of supreme merit, it is far from eager to bloom; but at
Woodlands we do not personally feel this drawback.
Of course there are many varieties of Cattleya gigas, for it is truly said
that two blooms of orchid exactly alike cannot be found. But I shall
mention only two.
_Imschootiana_ is huge even above its fellows, for a flower may be nine
inches across; the colour of sepal and petal mauve, with a crimson-purple
lip of splendour beyond conception. The golden throat under a
crimson-purple tube is lined with bright crimson; the characteristic
'eyes' gamboge, fading to white.
_Sanderae._--Some may well think this the loveliest of all its lovely kin.
Probably it is a foreign strain, though remote, which gives such supreme
softness to the magenta of the lip. On that ground the golden 'eyes' shine
forth with an abruptness positively startling. The broad sepals and petals
are sweetest rosy-mauve. Even the tube is deep crimson.
Here also is Cattleya bicolor Measuresiana, an exquisite example of a
species always charming to my taste. In this instance the sepals and
petals are purest and smoothest olive green; the very long shovel-shaped
labellum magenta-crimson, outlined and tipped with white.
Of Cattleya aurea again the varieties are many. It was brought from
Antioquia, New Granada, by Wallis, in 1868. If crimson and yellow,
tastefully disposed, make the most gorgeous combination possible, as all
human beings agree, this and its sister Dowiana are the most gorgeous of
flowers. The ordinary form of Cattleya aurea is nankin yellow, but in the
variety _R. H. Measures_, sepal and petal are gamboge. The glorious lip,
opening wide from the very base, has long brownish blurs descending from
the throat, on a golden ground which fades to yellow towards the edge.
There are two clear crimson patches in the front, and the margin is clear
crimson, whilst the whole expanse is covered with fine stripes of crimson
and gold alternately.
We come to the hybrids of these two which, dwelling side by side, have
been intermarrying for ages; and their offspring again have intermarried,
forming endless combinations. Cattleya Sanderiana was first discovered
under circumstances rather odd. One of Messrs. Sander's collectors, Mr.
Mau, was hunting for Odontoglossum crispum by Bogota. He came upon a
number of Cattleyas--none of them in bloom--and gathered any that came in
his way, taking no trouble, nor even mentioning the incident in his
letters. In due course he brought them to St. Albans along with his
Odontoglossums. Mr. Mau said nothing even while the cases were being
unpacked. Apparently he had forgotten them.
'What are these Cattleyas?' asked Mr. Sander, in surprise.
'Oh, I don't know! I found them in the woods.'
Old spikes still remained upon the plants, and bunches of withered rags at
the end. Mr. Sander perceived, first, that the flower must be gigantic
beyond belief; next, that it was red.
'Go back by next mail!' he cried. 'Search the woods--gather every one!'
And Mr. Mau did actually return by next mail.
This was Cattleya Sanderiana--sometimes as much as eleven inches across;
in colour, a tender rosy-mauve. The vast lip is almost square, with a
throat of gold, lined and netted over with bright crimson. It has the
charming 'eyes' of gigas in perfection, and the enormous disc, superbly
frilled, is of the liveliest magenta crimson.
_Chrysotoxa_, another of these wondrous hybrids, 'favours' its aurea
parent; with buff-yellow petals and sepals, the lower of which hang in a
graceful bunch surrounding the huge lip of dark orange ground, with an
edging of maroon-crimson, narrow above, widening to a stately breadth
below; the whole closely covered with branching lines of crimson.
_Mrs. Fred Hardy_ is a third--divinely beautiful. White of sepal and
petal, with the vast magenta-crimson lip of Hardyana. The glorious effect
may be in part imagined.
We have yet a fourth of this amazing group--Trismegistris--most nearly
allied to Sanderiana. I have not seen this variety in bloom; it was
introduced only three years ago. But the name signifies that it is the
quintessence of all. Individual taste may not always allow that claim,
but no one disputes that it is at least equal to the finest.
But the thoughtful cannot contemplate these wondrous things with
satisfaction unalloyed. Unless some wealthy and intelligent persons in
South America undertake to cultivate them in a regular way, it is too
probable that in a generation or two they will be utterly lost; for we
cannot hope that the specimens in Europe will endure so long, however
vigorous they may be at present. Here is the letter which accompanied the
last consignment--sad reading, as I think:--
MEDELLIN, _January 27, 1896_.
Messrs. F. SANDER and Co.,
St. Albans.