THE ORCHID ALBUM,

COMPRISING COLOURED FIGURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW, RARE, AND BEAUTIFUL ORCHIDACEOUS PLANTS.

CONDUCTED BY ROBERT WARNER, F.L.S., F.R.H.S., Author of SELECT ORCHIDACEOUS PLANTS, AND BENJAMIN SAMUEL WILLIAMS, F.L.S., F.R.H.S., Author of the ORCHID-GROWERS’ MANUAL, etc.

The Botanical Descriptions by THOMAS MOORE, F.L.S., F.R.H.S., CURATOR of the CHELSEA BOTANIC GARDENS.

THE COLOURED FIGURES BY JOHN NUGENT FITCH, F.L.S.

VOLUME I.

LONDON: Published by B. S. Williams, AT THE VICTORIA AND PARADISE NURSERIES, UPPER HOLLOWAY, N. MDCCCLXXXII.

DEDICATED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION TO H.R.H. The Princess of Wales, BY HER ROYAL HIGHNESS’ Very obedient and humble Servants, ROBERT WARNER, BENJAMIN S. WILLIAMS.

PREFACE.

The great advances which have been made within the last few years in the introduction and the cultivation of Exotic Orchids, have suggested the desirability of devoting a monthly publication to the illustration of the best forms of these singular and captivating aristocratic plants, and also to the explanation of the most successful methods of growing them, its object being to supply such information concerning them as the Orchid Grower may be likely to find useful in directing his purchases, and in suggesting the various points of discreet and masterly management. Moreover, we have found that figures of the better varieties of Orchids are much in request.

These considerations have induced us to commence the publication of the Orchid Album, in the confident expectation that we shall meet with sufficient support and encouragement to enable us to continue it, and, so far as our experience goes, we have no reason to feel disappointed, for we find that Orchid growers, both amateur and professional, are taking a marked interest not only in the plates but also in the cultural notes.

In regard to the subjects for illustration, we hope in due course to figure not only the typical form of all the more popular and interesting species, but also the leading varieties, when they prove sufficiently distinct and meritorious. It is for these that we anticipate our subscribers and readers will most anxiously look.

Being of Royal Quarto size, the pages of the Album are sufficiently large to enable the artist to produce ample and intelligible portraits of the plants without their becoming cumbersome; and, as they will be drawn and coloured in the best style, we confidently hope they will prove to be acceptable to the lovers and growers of Orchids generally. Thus we trust we may be permitted to lay before our patrons an acceptable Annual Album of Floral Pictures, which will be, at once, welcomed both to the Drawing-room and the Library.

The work has been commenced in deference to the urgent representations of ii many of the leading cultivators of these remarkable and fascinating plants, who have pointed out to us the want which we are now endeavouring to meet. The great advantage and pleasure which Orchid Growers have derived from the publication of such illustrated works as the Select Orchidaceous Plants, and such practical instructions as are given in the Orchid Grower’s Manual, lead us to believe that there exists a desire and a taste for further Orchidic literature, which we trust the Orchid Album may in some considerable degree supply. Our chief aim will be to give authentic information as to the nomenclature of the plants, and to disseminate correct instructions in regard to their cultural requirements. The finer new Orchids, as well as the older meritorious species and varieties, will be figured with equal fidelity, and described with equal accuracy. We shall at all times feel grateful to those Amateurs or Trade growers who may give us information as to the flowering either of novelties or of remarkably fine forms of the older kinds, especially if they are such as will be suitable for figuring.

The Annual Volumes will consist of the twelve Monthly Parts issued up to June in each year, when the volume will be completed by the publication of a Title Page and Index.

B. S. WILLIAMS.

Victoria and Paradise Nurseries,

Upper Holloway, London, N.,

June 1st, 1882.

INDEX TO PLATES.

INDEX TO NOTES AND SYNONYMS.

PL. 1. ONCIDIUM CONCOLOR.

ONCIDIUM CONCOLOR. [Plate 1.] Native of the Organ Mountains of Brazil.

Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs small, tufted, ovate or ovate-oblong, compressed, somewhat furrowed, two-leaved. Leaves subcoriaceous, oblong-linear or ligulate, acute, bright green. Scape radical, springing from the base of the young pseudobulbs, drooping, furnished with small bracts. Flowers yellow, racemose; sepals (dorsal) ovate-lanceolate or obovate, acute, the lateral ones smaller, lance-shaped, and united behind the lip for about half their length; petals obovate, acute, somewhat undulated, about as long as the sepals; lip (labellum) large and prominent, roundish subpanduriform, emarginate, somewhat clawed, furnished with a pair of plates or lamellæ (bilamellate) at the base, of a clear yellow colour, as are the sepals and petals. Column about half as long as the petals, with a projecting tooth on each side.

Oncidium concolor, Hooker, Botanical Magazine, t. 3752; Lindley, Folia Orchidacea, Art. Oncidium, No. 65 (excl. syn. Klotzsch); Reichenbach fil. in Walpers’ Annales Botanices Systematicæ, vi. 731.; Carrière, in Revue Horticole, 1881, 30, with tab.

Cyrtochilum citrinum, Hooker, Botanical Magazine, t. 4454.

The brilliant little plant here figured—a representation in the tribe Vandeæ, of the great genus Oncidium—belongs to the group of Oncids which Lindley named Tetrapetala micropetala, in which two of the sepals are united so that the petaloid organs, as distinguished from the lip, are reduced to four in number (tetrapetala), and at the same time the petals, which are about equal in size to the sepals, are comparatively small by comparison with the remaining organ.

This species, although not new, was until recently extremely rare, and was, indeed, seldom met with in collections; now, however, the little gem is very plentiful, thanks to the indefatigable zeal of our collectors, so that growers who do not possess it may obtain it at a very small cost. The species is one of the most compact-growing and beautiful of the Oncidiums, producing, as it does, from the base of the new bulbs, many-flowered drooping spikes of rich yellow blossoms. It is an excellent subject for planting in a pan or basket to be suspended from the roof of the house, where the brightly-coloured flowers produce a charming effect; indeed, we do not know of any Orchid which has a better appearance when grown in this way.

Oncidium concolor succeeds best in a compost of peat with a little sphagnum moss added, and with plenty of good drainage. We have grown it most successfully in small pans, but it can be cultivated either in a basket or on a block. It would 3 succeed equally well in a pot, but the drooping character of the flower-spikes renders it a most fitting subject for growing in either of the above-named receptacles, and for suspension from the roof. As to temperature, we find it succeeds best in the Odontoglossum-house during the summer months. After it has flowered, and while it is making its growth, a copious supply of water should be given to it, always keeping the soil moist until the growth of the bulbs is completed. When it has finished its growth, it should be removed to the Cattleya-house, where it should be kept moderately dry until it produces its spikes about March or April.

For exhibition purposes this is a most valuable little plant, being easy of cultivation, distinct in colour, and flowering during the principal exhibition months, May and June; its long lasting quality is also a great point in its favour. In order to preserve the flowers for a considerable time, they should be kept free from damp, for if allowed to get wet they soon become spotted, and fade, but when kept in this way, they will last at least six or seven weeks. The plant is altogether a most valuable Orchid, and as it takes up but little room, we recommend growers to procure a good stock of it, as its effect when suspended among other flowering Orchids is charming.