BRASSIA 129 



2. B. eaudata LindL in Bot. Beg. t. 832 (1824); lateral 

 sepals very long, very acuminate, generally four or five times as 

 long as lip ; lip obovate-oblong, abruptly acuminate, lamella? 

 thickish, pubescent, with free tooth-like points and two teeth 

 above distinct from the lamella?. Lindl. Fol. Orch. Brass. 3 ; 

 Hook. Exot. FL t. 179 & in Bot. Mag. t. 3451 ; Beichb. Fl. Exot. 

 t. 267 ; Griseb. loc. cit. ; Gogn. in FL Bras. Hi. pt. 6, 257, t. 58. 

 Helleborine ramosissima etc. Plum. Nov. PI. Amer. Gen. Cat. 9 

 (1703) & PI. Amer. (Burm.) t. 177. Epidendrum caudatum 

 L. Sp. PL ed. 2. 1349 (1763). (PL 28, f. 7-9.) 



On trees ; in fl. May- Aug. ; Macfadyen ! Iron River, Golden Spring, 

 J.P. 2281, Symel St. George, Watt\ Clarendon, Tomlinsonl Fl. Jam. 

 10,419. Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Surinam. 



Plant 10-15 in. high. Pseudobulbs large, oblong, compressed, 2-edged, 

 9-12 cm. 1., 2*5-3 cm. br. ; at apex 2-leaved. Leaves leathery, broadly 

 ligulate, abruptly acute, tapering towards base, 18-30 cm. 1., 4-5 '5 cm. br. 

 Peduncle stout, a little longer than the leaves, with a few distant sheathing 

 bracts below, 2 -5-3 '5 dm. 1., with 9-15 flowers. Bracts oblong-triangular, 

 obtuse, shorter than the ovary, 8-10 mm. 1. Flowers large, shortly stalked, 

 greenish-yellow, with brown or purplish spots, lip about 1 in. 1., lateral 

 sepals 2 to 4 or 5 in. 1. Sepals linear-lanceolate, very long, very acuminate, 

 5-6 mm. br., lateral 5-11 cm. 1., median 4-5 cm. 1. Petals lanceolate, long- 

 acuminate, 2-2*5 cm. 1., 4-6 mm. br. Lip 2*5-3 cm. 1., 10-12 mm. br. 

 Column 4 mm. 1. 



The floral parts vary much in size. In a living plant brought from 

 Jamaica by Mrs. Longstaff, which flowered at Highlands, Putney, the 

 measurements were as follows: sepals 6 mm. br., lateral 13*3 cm. 1., 

 median 5*2 cm. 1.; petals 2*3 cm. 1., 4*5 mm. br. ; lip 2*8 cm. 1., 1*2 

 cm. br. ; column, including anther, 5 mm. 1. 



56. ONCIDIUM Sw. 



Epiphytic herbs. Stems leafy, generally short or very short, 

 with or without a pseudobulb. Leaves 3-edged or flat. Peduncles 

 lateral, generally elongated and branching. Racemes lax. 

 Bracts small. Sepals generally almost equal, spreading or 

 reflexed, free or lateral connate nearly to apex. Petals similar 

 to the median sepal or larger. Lip attached to the base of the 

 column, continuous, median lobe spreading, very broad, emar- 

 ginate or 2-fid ; disk at the apex of the claw remarkably crested 

 or tuberculate. Column short, thick, furnished with petaloid 

 wings, without a foot ; clinandrium sometimes very short, 

 truncate, sometimes ovate, obliquely erect, entire or anteriorly 

 shortly 2-dentate. Anther terminal, opercular, incumbent, very 

 convex, semiglobose or hooded, 1 -celled or imperfectly 2-celled ; 

 pollinia 2, waxy, obovoid, without an appendage, attached to a 

 flat stalk, narrow and elongated or broad and very short. 

 Capsule almost always ovoid, oblong or spindle-shaped, more or 

 less beaked. 



