Mr. Sander has had his turn, and has
enjoyed the satisfaction of discovering species closely allied, as
_Eucharis Mastersii_ and _Eucharis Sanderiana_; but the old-fashioned
bulb is still to seek.
In this third greenhouse is a large importation of _Cattleya Trianae_,
which arrived so late last year that their sheaths have opened
contemporaneously with _C. Mossiae_. I should fear to hazard a guess how
many thousand flowers of each are blooming now. As the Odontoglossums
cover their stage with snow wreaths, so this is decked with upright
plumes of _Cattleya Trianae_, white and rose and purple in endless
variety of tint, with many a streak of other hue between.
Suddenly our guide becomes excited, staring at a basket overhead beyond
reach. It contains a smooth-looking object, very green and fat, which
must surely be good to eat--but this observation is alike irrelevant and
disrespectful. Why, yes! Beyond all possibility of doubt that is a spike
issuing from the axil of its fleshy leaf! Three inches long it is
already, thick as a pencil, with a big knob of bud at the tip. Such
pleasing surprises befall the orchidacean! This plant came from Borneo
so many years ago that the record is lost; but the oldest servant of the
farm remembers it, as a poor cripple, hanging between life and death,
season after season. Cheerful as interesting is the discussion that
arises.
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