PLATE XVII. 
ODONTOGLOSSUM LUTEO-PURPUREUM. 
YELLOW AND BROWN ODONTOGLOSSUM. 
O. (EUODONTOGLOSSUM) pseudobulbis ovatis subeompressis diphyllis, foliis ensiformibus race- 
mis multifloris nutantibus subæqualibus, bracteis ovatis acutis squamæformibus, pedicellis 
internodiis æquantibus, sepalis petalisque subæqualibus oblongo-lanceolatis acuminatis, 
labelli breviter unguiculati lateribus planis, limbo subpanduriformi antice lacero-serrulato, 
cristâ ad basin multidigitatâ, columnæ petalis triplo brevioris vix arcuatee alis multifidis 
erinitis. 
ODONTOGLOSSUM LUTEO-PURPUREUM, Lindl. Orch. Linden. n. 85; Fol. Orch. n. 7. 
ODONTOGLOSSUM RADIATUM, Rchb. Gard. Chron. (1864, New Plants, n. 307.) 
ODONTOGLOSSOM HYSTRIX, Bateman in Gard. Chron. 1864, New Plants, n. 282, 
Habitat in N. GRANADA, prope Quindiu, alt. 8000 p., Linden ; prope Santa Fé de Bogotá, Weir, Blunt. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Psruponunss about 3 or 4 inches long, somewhat compressed, ovate, 2-leaved. Lmavzs sword-shaped, sharp-pointed, a 
foot or more long, about the same length as the many-flowered nodding Racemes. Bracrs ovate, acute, scaly. 
Penicels equalling in length the average spaces between the Fuownrs. SEPALS and Prrars nearly equal, oblong- 
lanceolate (the petals sometimes unguiculate), acuminate, of a rich chocolate-brown inside, with edges and tips of a 
greenish-yellow. Lie with a very short claw, fiddle-shaped, at its side-edges plane, its centre-lobe minutely serrate 
and apiculate, with a multitude of finger-like processes (varying in different individuals) seated on the claw, and with 
their bristles all more or less inclining forwards. The upper portion of the lip is white, with a brown base, which 
again is banded with white beneath the series of bristles, which are of a rich golden-yellow. COLUMN only one-third 
the length of the petals, slightly arched, with lacerated, hairy wings nearly concealing the anther. 
The vicissitudes which the name of this species has had to undergo within the last three years are full of instruction 
both to botanists and the public. It was first described by Lindley from wild specimens gathered by Linden in the neigh- 
bourhood of Quindiu. Mr. Weir was the next to meet with it, and he succeeded in sending to the Horticultural Society 
several living plants that had been obtained about 100 miles to the south of Bogotá. He also sent wild specimens in 
admirable condition which, not agreeing with Lindley’s description, and being profusely furnished both at the base of the 
lip and in the apex of the column with long bristle-like appendages, led to my calling it O. hystrix (i. e. the Porcupine 
Odontoglossum). Messrs. Low also received the plant, through their collector Mr. Blunt, from the same locality as that 
where Weir met with it, and one of their plants produced flowers which—neither agreeing with Lindley’s O. luteo- 
purpureum nor with my O. hystriz—received from Professor Reichenbach the name of O. radiatum. Subsequently 
many specimens flowered, no two of which were alike, though they all maintained a sort of distant family resemblance 
to O. luteo-purpureum of which—as the Professor himself was the first to point out—there can now be no doubt that 
they are all varieties. 
The figure is taken from a plant that flowered in Mr. Day’s collection in the autumn of 1865, the flowers of which 
were twice the size of those of a plant that flowered with me,—but still larger varieties have since appeared in the 
collections of Lord Egerton of Tatton and Mr. Wentworth Buller. 
