CYPRIPEDIUMS
No genus or race of Orchids that has been brought under cultivation has yielded so readily, and we may add, so strikingly, to its influence as Cypripedium. This is not only apparent in the results of hybridization, but also in the species themselves, especially in those that have been longest under the cultivator’s care. The most obvious effects of cultural influence have been the development of more robust foliage of a brighter colour; the normally one-flowered scape occasionally becomes two-flowered; the flowers are often larger and modified in colour (Veitch). Generally they are easily culti¬ vated, they flower freely and may readily be induced to mature seeds from which plants can be raised. The species, with few exceptions, readily intercross, and consequently an enormous number of hybrids have been raised artificially. Two of the three represented in the plate are true species, the third, EVENOR, is a garden hybrid. Recently the genus has been divided by botanists into four, viz.:—Cypripedium, Phragmo- pedilum, Paphiopedilum, and Selenipedium.
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