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. veratraefolia_, 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, x
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 x
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 Loelias, decline an alliance
with their Mexican kindred.
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