Tap; Xi: 
EPIDENDRUM AURANTIACUM: 
ORANGE EPIDENDRUM. 
Epiprenprum aurantiacum; caulibus clavatis diphyllis; foliis oblongis obtusis racemo brevi longio- 
ribus ; sepalis lineari-lanceolatis acutis sub-lunatis, petalisque subaqualibus conniventibus ; labello libero 
integro ovato columnam involvente, petalisque subconformi: columna labello duplo breviore. 
Description, 
STEMS incrassated, jointed, nearly cylindrical, from half a foot to ten inches high, bearing two 
very coriaceous, ovate-oblong, obtuse, and obliquely emarginate LEAVES, of a deep shining green, 
Srom two to four inches long. RACEME, issuing from a whitish brown spathe, shorter than the 
leaves, producing from two to thirteen flowers, of a rich and deep orange-colour.. PEDICELLS round, 
clavate, one inch and a half long, having a slight enlargement on the under side, adjoining the flower. 
SEPALS linear-lanceolate, acute, about an inch long, and scarcely a quarter of an inch broad, the 
upper one is erect, the lateral ones slightly crescent-shaped. PETALS same size as the sepals, and 
converging inwards, so as partially to conceal the column. Lap entire, united only to the base of the 
column, ovate, broader than the petals, but of the same length, having its edges turned inwards, and 
thereby overlapping the column, orange-coloured, but adorned with a few minute crimson streaks. 
Cotumn scarcely half the length of the petals, of a pale greenish yellow. 
FOR the introduction of this exceedingly pretty Epidendrum we have again to thank Mr. Skryner, 
by whom plants of it were sent in the early part of 1835, from Guatemala, where it is exceedingly plentiful. 
It was also found, by Baron Karwinsk1, in Oaxaca, although, probably, rare in that locality, since it was 
neither met with by Mr. Barxer’s collector, nor included in a large and richly-stored box, which the 
Messrs. Saprer, of Oaxaca, have kindly sent to us from the environs of that city (the capital of the 
province of the same name). 
In Guatemala it grows only in the higher parts, where the mean temperature of the air is, probably, 
not more than 65° (Fahrenheit), a circumstance which ought never to be lost sight of in its cultivation ; for 
like many other Orchidacez which are found above the usual elevation, it will not thrive under the treatment 
applied to the majority of its tribe. It grows, indeed, and freely, among its compeers, and even produces 
vigorous spathes, but these prove either altogether abortive, or are the harbingers only of very feeble flower- 
scapes. When our plants arrived in the autumn of 1835, we observed that even the weakest stems had borne 
from five to seven flowers, while upon the strongest we counted as many as thirteen; when, therefore, the 
stems, which, in a short time, were perfected in the epiphyte house, rivalled in their dimensions the largest 
of those imported, we expected a corresponding profuseness in the number of their flowers. To our great 
mortification, however, but one of these stems sent forth a scape, and to this there were attached only two 
flower-buds, which, although they never made an attempt to expand, contrived, nevertheless, to mature very 
formidable capsules, similar to the one represented in the Plate. This ill success was attributed to the 
unfavourable season at which the shoots were made; when, therefore, in the early part of the ensuing 
summer, stems were seen rising much above the former height, our hopes rose in proportion, but only to be 
again disappointed ; for, instead of flower-scapes, another set of shoots started up. As it was evident that 
the plant required rest, it was removed to a cooler house, in which, after remaining dormant during the 
winter, it produced, in the spring, a few heads of flowers, none of them, however, numbering more than four 
or five blossoms. This deficiency we at once ascribed to over-exertion in the preceding summer, and, in 
order to prevent the recurrence of a like catastrophe, we determined that, when growing season again arrived, 
the plant should be permitted to form only one set of shoots, and be immediately removed from the excite- 
* Supra. Tab, X. 
