TAs ie 
ONCIDIUM’ CAVENDISHIANUM. 
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE'’S ONCIDIUM. 
Trisus: VANDE.—Linptey. 
Onciprum foliis erectis carnosis lato-lanceolatis acutis scapo elato paniculato triplo brevioribus, 
sepalis obovatis obtusis, supremo fornicato, petalis subeequalibus oblongis obtusis valde undulatis: labello 
magno trilobo, laciniis lateralibus rotundis petalis sub-conformibus, intermedia majore reniforme profunde 
emarginata, criste tuberculis 2 ad basin 2 a fronte lamelle elevate rotundate sitis: columna brevi crass 
auriculo decurvo clayato versus apicem utrinque aucta. 
¥ 
Habitat in Guatemala.—SKInver. 
Mescripttor. 
PSEUDO-BULBS, none. LEAVES erect, fleshy, broadly-lanceolate, sharp-pointed, very deeply 
heeled, a foot or a foot and a half long. Roors few, very thick. Scapr 4 feet high, half an inch 
thick at the base, but tapering gradually, and bearing at its extremity a rather dense PANICLE, 
almost a foot in length. SEPALS and PETALS nearly equal, obtuse, of a greenish yellow colour, 
spotted with bright chesnut. L1p of a pure dazzling yellow, 3-lobed, the lateral lobes are nearly 
circular, and approach, in form, the petals, which, from their position, they almost conceal ; the 
central lobe is very large, hidney-shaped, and deeply emarginate. CotumNn short and thick, 
provided, in liew of wings, with two singular processes, which curve downwards and incline towards 
each other, surmounted by a cowl-shaped ANTHER. 
Fig. 1 is a magnified representation of the Column and Crest. 
THIS is a very handsome and distinct species of Oncidium ; and we have, therefore, no hesitation 
in naming it after a nobleman, whose devotion to botany and horticulture is now far too well known 
to render it necessary for us to enlarge upon it here. In a few years we hope to see the beautiful 
family, to which this plant belongs, seated in all their natural majesty on those trees of which they are 
the proper “incumbents,” and under the shelter of the great Plant-Stove at Chatsworth. When this 
grand structure is completed, all the most striking vegetable forms of India, Africa, and America, will 
be seen in, perhaps, more than their native luxuriance within its ample boundaries; and thus, amidst 
the wildest scenery of Derbyshire, there will be found an example of tropical vegetation, richer and more 
varied than could be met with in any of those baleful latitudes themselves. 
Oncidium Cavendishianum is another of the important discoveries of Mr. Skinner; and it formed 
part of the first collection that we had ever the pleasure of receiving from him. On opening the box 
in which it was packed, our attention was at once arrested by the prodigious strength of the flower stems, 
which had the further peculiarity of being destitute of flowers for upwards of three-fourths of their height; 
and thus they contrasted, in the most striking manner, with those of O. leucochilum (Tab. I.), of which a 
plant arrived in the same case. O. Cavendishianum approaches, perhaps, nearer to O. luridum than to 
any other known species; but not only are the flowers of a very different form, and of nearly double the 
size, but the erect habit of its rigid leaves would at once distinguish the species, even when not in bloom. 
* Oncidium supra, Tab. I. 
