uire shade. Botanically they are placed under Zygopetalum.

CHAPTER XXI

ORCHID HYBRIDS

It is impossible to enumerate the immense number of home-raised hybrids
in the scope of this book. It must therefore suffice to name some of the
principal genera which have been crossed, and a few of the best hybrids,
from the garden point of view.

Too much cannot be said for the absorbing interest of raising hybrid
Orchids, which is referred to at length on p. 67.

_Brassavola Digbyana_ has been one of the most satisfactory parents,
crossing readily with Cattleya and Laelia, and imparting to the hybrids
its large flowers and fringed lip. _B. glauca_ has also been useful.
_Brasso-Cattleya Digbyano-Mossiae_, "Westonbirt Variety," is illustrated
in Plate V.

Calanthes have been wonderfully improved, so far as the deciduous,
winter-flowering kinds are concerned, by intercrossing, commencing with
_C. Veitchii_ (_rosea x vestita_) and now including all shades from pure
white to blood-red.

Cattleya, Laelia, Sophronitis, and Brassavola have produced by
intercrossing numerous showy garden plants, some of them, as for example
_C. Iris_ (_C. bicolor x C. Dowiana_) and _Laelio-Cattleya
callistoglossa_ (_C. Warscewiczii x L. purpurata_), exhibiting great
variation in the colour of their beautiful flowers.

Cymbidium has been enriched by the hybridist, the section Cyperorchis
being merged in true Cymbidium. _Cymbidium Lowio-eburneum_ is
illustrated in Plate VI.

Dendrobium hybrids are among the most numerous and useful as decorative
flowers.

Epidendrum has produced some satisfactory results, including _E.
O'Brienianum_ and _Epiphronitis Veitchii_ (_Sophronitis grandiflora x
Epidendrum radicans_).

Cypripedium has been so prolific that there are amateurs who cultivate
them either exclusively or give the greater part of their accommodation
to the genus and its hybrids, which may be numbered by the hundred.

Species of Masdevallia, Odontoglossum, Lycaste, Phaius, and Zygopetalum
have all been intercrossed, and the number of possible combinations
admits of incalculable development, especially as the crossing is not
confined to the same genus. Plants of distinct genera have been crossed
with each other, and in many cases the results have been unexpectedly
good, as for example the pretty, scarlet _Cochlioda Noezliana_, which
has been crossed successfully with several genera. Such facts as these
seem to indicate that there ar