| contrary. I wish to show how it is done
so clearly that a child or the dullest gardener may be able to
perform the operations—so very easy when you know how to set to
work. After a single lesson, in the genus Cypripedium alone, a
young lady of my household amused herself by concerting the most
incredible alliances—Dendrobium with Odontoglossum, Epidendrum with
Oncidium, Oncidium with Odontoglossum, and so forth. It is
unnecessary to tell the experienced that in every case the seed
vessel swelled; that matter will be referred to presently. I mention
the incident only to show how simple are these processes if the key
be grasped.
Amateur hybridizers of an audacious class are wanted because,
hitherto, operators have kept so much to the beaten paths. The names
of Veitch and Dominy and Seden will endure when those of great
savants are forgotten; but business men have been obliged to
concentrate their zeal upon experiments that pay. Fantastic crosses
mean, in all probability, a waste of time, space, and labour; in
fact, it is not until recent years that such attempts could be
regarded as serious. So much the more creditable, therefore, are
Messrs. Veitch's exertions in that line.
But it seems likely to me that when hybridizing becomes a common
pursuit with those who grow orchids—and the time approaches fast—a
very strange revolution may follow. It will appear, as I think, that
the enormous list of pure species—even genera—recognized at this
date may be thinned in a surprising fashion. I believe—timidly, as
becomes the unscientific—that many distinctions which anatomy
recognizes at present as essential to a true species will be proved,
in the future, to result from promiscuous hybridization through ćons
of time. "Proved," perhaps, is the word too strong, since human life
is short; but such a mass of evidence will be collected that
reasonable men can entertain no doubt. Of course the species will be
retained, but we shall know it to be a hybrid—the offspring,
perhaps, of hybrids innumerable.
I incline more and more to think that even genera may be disturbed
in a surprising fashion, and I know that some great authorities
agree with me outright, though they are unprepared to commit
themselves at present. A very few years ago this suggestion would
have been absurd, in the sense that it wanted facts in support. As
our ancestors made it an article of faith that to fertilize an
orchid was impossible for man, so we imagined until lately that
genera would not mingle. But this belief grows unsteady. Though
bi-generic crosses have not been much favoured, as offering little
prospect of success, such results have been obtained already that
the field of speculation lies open to irresponsible persons like
myself. When Cattleya has been allied with Sophronitis, Sophronitis
with Epidendrum, Odontoglossum with Zygopetalum, Cślogene with
Calanthe, one may credit almost anything. What should be stated on
the other side will appear presently.
How many hybrids have we now, established, and passing from hand to
hand as freely as natural species? There is no convenient record;
but in the trade list of a French dealer those he is prepared to
supply are set apart with Gallic precision. They number 416; but
imagination and commercial enterprise are not less characteristic of
the Gaul than precision.
In the excellent "Manual" of Messrs. Veitch, which has supplied me
with a mass of details, I find ten hybrid Calanthes; thirteen hybrid
Cattleyas, and fifteen Lślias, besides sixteen "natural
hybrids"—species thus classed upon internal evidence—and the
wondrous Sophro-Cattleya, bi-generic; fourteen Dendrobiums and one
natural; eighty-seven Cypripediums—but as for the number in
existence, it is so great, and it increases so fast, that Messrs.
Veitch have lost count; Phajus one, but several from alliance with
Calanthe; Chysis two; Epidendrum one; Miltonia one, and two natural;
Masdevallia ten, and two natural; and so on. And it must be borne in
mind that these amazing results have been effected in one
generation. Dean Herbert's achievements eighty years ago were not
chronicled, and it is certain that none of the results survive. Mr.
Sander of St. Albans preserves an interesting relic, the only one as
yet connected with the science of orchidology. This is Cattleya
hybrida, the first of that genus raised by Dominy, manager to
Messrs. Veitch, at the suggestion of Mr. Harris of Exeter, to the
stupefaction of our grandfathers. Mr. Harris will ever be remembered
as the gentleman who showed Mr. Veitch's agent how orchids are
fertilized, and started him on his career. This plant was lost for
years, but Mr. Sander found it by chance in the collection of Dr.
Janisch at Hamburg, and he keeps it as a curiosity, for in itself
the object has no value. But this is a digression.
Dominy's earliest success, actually the very first of garden hybrids
to flower—in 1856—was Calanthe Dominii, offspring of C. Masuca × C.
furcata;—be it here remarked that the name of the mother, or seed
parent, always stands first. Another interest attaches to C. Dominii.
Both its parents belong to the Veratrćfolia section of Calanthe, the
terrestrial species, and no other hybrid has yet been raised among
them. We have here one of the numberless mysteries disclosed by
hybridization. The epiphytal Calanthes, represented by C. vestita,
will not cross with the terrestrial, represented by C. veratrćfolia,
nor will the mules of either. We may "give this up" and proceed. In
1859 flowered C. Veitchii, from C. rosea, still called, as a rule,
Limatodes rosea, × C. vestita. No orchid is so common as this, and
none more simply beautiful. But although the success was so
striking, and the way to it so easy, twenty years passed before even
Messrs. Veitch raised another hybrid Calanthe. In 1878 Seden
flowered C. Sedeni from C. Veitchii × C. vestita. Others entered the
field then, especially Sir Trevor Lawrence, Mr. Cookson, and Mr.
Charles Winn. But the genus is small, and they mostly chose the same
families, often giving new names to the progeny, in ignorance of
each other's labour.
The mystery I have alluded to recurs again and again. Large groups
of species refuse to inter-marry with their nearest kindred, even
plants which seem identical in the botanist's point of view. There
is good ground for hoping, however, that longer and broader
experience will annihilate some at least of the axioms current in
this matter. Thus, it is repeated and published in the very latest
editions of standard works that South American Cattleyas, which will
breed, not only among themselves, but also with the Brazilian Lślias,
decline an alliance with their Mexican kindred. But Baron Schroeder
possesses a hybrid of such typical parentage as Catt. citrina,
Mexican, and Catt. intermedia, Brazilian. It was raised by Miss
Harris, of Lamberhurst, Kent, one single plant only; and it has
flowered several times. Messrs. Sander have crossed Catt. guttata
Leopoldii, Brazil, with Catt. Dowiana, Costa Rica, giving Catt.
Chamberliana; Lślia crispa, Brazil, with the same, giving
Lślio-Cattleya Pallas; Catt. citrina, Mexico, with Catt. intermedia,
Brazil, giving Catt. citrina intermedia (Lamberhurst hybrid); Lślia
flava, Brazil, with Catt. Skinneri, Costa Rica, giving Lślio-Catt.
Marriottiana; Lślia pumila, Brazil, with Catt. Dowiana, Costa Rica,
giving Lślio-Catt. Normanii; Lślia Digbyana, Central America, with
Catt. Mossić, Venezuela, giving Lślio-Catt. Digbyana-Mossić; Catt.
Mossić, Venezuela, with Lślia cinnabarina, Brazil, giving Lślio-Catt.
Phoebe. Not yet flowered and unnamed, raised in the Nursery, are
Catt. citrina, Mexico, with Lślia purpurata, Brazil; Catt.
Harrisonić, Brazil, with Catt. citrina, Mexico; Lślia anceps,
Mexico, with Epidendrum ciliare, U.S. Colombia. In other genera
there are several hybrids of Mexican and South American parentage;
as L. anceps × Epid. ciliare, Sophronitis grandiflora × Epid.
radicans, Epid. xanthinum × Epid. radicans.
But among Cypripediums, the easiest and safest of all orchids to
hybridize, East Indian and American species are unfruitful. Messrs.
Veitch obtained such a cross, as they had every reason to believe,
in one instance. For sixteen years the plants grew and grew until it
was thought they would prove the rule by declining to flower. I
wrote to Messrs. Veitch to obtain the latest news. They inform me
that one has bloomed at last. It shows no trace of the American
strain, and they have satisfied themselves that there was an error
in the operation or the record. Again, the capsules secured from
very many by-generic crosses have proved, time after time, to
contain not a single seed. In other cases the seed was excellent to
all appearance, but it has resolutely refused to germinate. And
further, certain by-generic seedlings have utterly ignored one
parent. Zygopetalum Mackayi has been crossed by Mr. Veitch, Mr.
Cookson, and others doubtless, with various Odontoglossums, but the
flower has always turned out Zygopetalum Mackayi pure and
simple—which becomes the more unaccountable more one thinks of it.
Hybrids partake of the nature of both parents, but they incline
generally, as in the extreme cases mentioned, to resemble one much
more strongly than the other. When a Cattleya or Lślia of the
single-leaf section is crossed with one of the two-leaf, some of the
offspring, from the same capsule, show two leaves, others one only;
and some show one and two alternately, obeying no rule perceptible
to us at present. So it is with the charming Lślia Maynardii from L.
Dayana × Cattleya dolosa, just raised by Mr. Sander and named after
the Superintendent of his hybridizing operations. Catt. dolosa has
two leaves, L. Dayana one; the product has two and one alternately.
Sepals and petals are alike in colour, rosy crimson, veined with a
deeper hue; lip brightest crimson-lake, long, broad and flat,
curving in handsomely above the column, which is closely depressed
after the manner of Catt. dolosa.
The first bi-generic cross deserves a paragraph to itself if only on
that account; but its own merits are more than sufficient.
Sophro-Cattleya Batemaniana was raised by Messrs. Veitch from
Sophronitis grandiflora × Catt. intermedia. It flowered in August,
1886; petals and sepals rosy scarlet, lip pale lilac bordered with
amethyst and tipped with rosy purple.
But one natural hybrid has been identified among Dendrobes—the
progeny doubtless of D. crassinode × D. Wardianum. Messrs. J. Laing
have a fine specimen of this; it shows the growth of the latter
species with the bloom of the former, but enlarged and improved.
Several other hybrid crosses are suspected. Of artificial we have
not less than fifty.
Phaius—it is often spelt Phajus—is so closely allied with Calanthe
that for hybridizing purposes at least there is no distinction.
Dominy raised Ph. irroratus from Ph. grandifolius × Cal. vestita;
Seden made the same cross, but, using the variety Cal. v.
rubro-occulata, he obtained Ph. purpureus. The success is more
interesting because one parent is evergreen, the other, Calanthe,
deciduous. On this account probably very few seedlings survive; they
show the former habit. Mr. Cookson alone has yet raised a cross
between two species of Phajus—Ph. Cooksoni from Ph. Wallichii × Ph.
tuberculosus. One may say that this is the best hybrid yet raised,
saving Calanthe Veitchii, if all merits be considered—stateliness of
aspect, freedom in flowering, striking colour, ease of cultivation.
One bulb will throw up four spikes—twenty-eight have been counted in
a twelve-inch pot—each bearing perhaps thirty flowers.
Seden has made two crosses of Chysis, both from the exquisite Ch.
bractescens, one of the loveliest flowers that heaven has granted to
this world, but sadly fleeting. Nobody, I believe, has yet been so
fortunate as to obtain seed from Ch. aurea. This species has the
rare privilege of self-fertilization—we may well exclaim, Why!
why?—and it eagerly avails itself thereof so soon as the flower
begins to open. Thus, however watchful the hybridizer may be,
hitherto he has found the pollen masses melted in hopeless confusion
before he can secure them.
One hybrid Epidendrum has been obtained—Epi. O'Brienianum from Epi.
evectum × Epi. radicans; the former purple, the latter scarlet,
produce ×a bright crimson progeny.
Miltonias show two natural hybrids, and one artificial—Mil.
Bleuiana from Mil. vexillaria × Mil. Roezlii; both of these are
commonly classed as Odontoglots, and I refer to them elsewhere under
that title. M. Bleu and Messrs. Veitch made this cross about the
same time, but the seedlings of the former flowered in 1889, of the
latter, in 1891. Here we see an illustration of the advantage which
French horticulturists enjoy, even so far north as Paris; a clear
sky and abundant sunshine made a difference of more than twelve
months. When Italians begin hybridizing, we shall see marvels—and
Greeks and Egyptians!
Masdevallias are so attractive to insects, by striking colour, as a
rule, and sometimes by strong smell—so very easily fertilized
also—that we should expect many natural hybrids in the genus. They
are not forthcoming, however. Reichenbach displayed his scientific
instinct by suggesting that two species submitted to him might
probably be the issue of parents named; since that date Seden has
produced both of them from the crosses which Reichenbach indicated.
We have three natural hybrids among Phalśnopsis. Ph. intermedia made
its appearance in a lot of Ph. Aphrodite, imported 1852. M. Porte, a
French trader, brought home two in 1861; they were somewhat
different, and he gave them his name. Messrs. Low imported several
in 1874, one of which, being different again, was called after Mr.
Brymer. Three have been found since, always among Ph. Aphrodite; the
finest known is possessed by Lord Rothschild. That these were
natural hybrids could not be doubted; Seden crossed Ph. Aphrodite
with Ph. rosea, and proved it. Our garden hybrids are two: Ph. F.L.
Ames, obtained from Ph. amabilis × Ph. intermedia, and Ph. Harriettć
from Ph. amabilis × Ph. violacea, named after the daughter of Hon.
Erastus Corning, of Albany, U.S.A.
Oncidiums yield only two natural hybrids at present, and those
uncertain; others are suspected. We have no garden hybrids, I
believe, as yet. So it is with Odontoglossums, as has been said, but
in the natural state they cross so freely that a large proportion of
the species may probably be hybrids. I allude to this hereafter.
About Orchids
About Orchids, 1893 |
