BARE ORCHIDS

Evening Star, Issue 19763, 13 January 1928, Page 7

BARE ORCHIDS

THREE PLANTS SOLD FOR £945. Three insignificant - looking plants with long pale green leaves, which resembled poor specimens of the common aspidistra, were sold in London recently, says the ‘Daily Mail,’ for a little under £I,OOO. These plants, which would have attracted no attention on a hawker’s barrow, were very rare and valuable orchids—the Odontoglossum Purple Emperor, which is said to be the finest Odontoglossura ever produced. They are the gems of the collection of orchids which was formed and cultivated for many years by the late Mr H. T. Pitt at Stamford Hill, and were sold by auction in the grounds of Rosslyn. The Purple Emperor bears flowers, which measure more than Gin across, of intense crimson maroon, margined with white and yellow markings on the lip. Sir James M‘Bean, of Cooksbridge, near Lewes, Sussex, secured the first plant for £357 and the second for £325 XOs, while Mr T. Armstrong, of Tunbridge Wells, bought the third for £262 10s. • Both the growers informed a * Daily Mail ’ reporter that they had bought the orchids for themselves, and would probably propagate from them. A son of the late Mr Pitt stated that his father had bought the plants some twa years ago for. about £42oj