ONCIDIUM . 133 



bulbs ovoid-oblong, furrowed, compressed, with two leaves ; 

 lateral sepals free ; lip 3-lobed, lateral lobes small, oblong-obtuse ; 

 middle lobe broadly kidney-shaped, emarginate or retuse ; crest 

 with two long lobes on each side, and an erect recurved one in 

 the middle. Bateman Orch. Mex. & Guat. 1. 1. (1837) ; Lindl. Fol. 

 Orcli. Oncid. 48 & in Paxt. Mag. Bot. vii. 241 with plate. 



On trees in the Blue Mts. ; Monklands, Moore ! near Newcastle, 

 Walker ! Mexico, Guatemala. 



Roots numerous, long, branching. Pseudobulbs 5-10 cm. 1. Leaves 

 2-4 dm. 1., 2 - 5-4 cm. br. Panicle 10-20 dm. 1., mucb longer than the 

 leaves, laxly-flowered, with several adpressed distant sheaths (about 1 cm. 

 1.). Bracts triangular, acute, 5-7 mm. 1. Floivers rather large, long- 

 stalked ; sepals and petals nearly equal, about in. 1., greenish-brown 

 barred with light yellow-green ; lip white, about same length. Sepals and 

 petals similar, elliptical-oblong, acute, spreading, about 2 cm. 1. Column 

 short, about 5 mm. 1. ; wings somewhat hatchet-shaped, acute or obtuse 

 above, rounded below. 



O. altissimum Sw. is credited to Jamaica by Swartz (Prodr. 

 123 & Fl. Ind. Occ. 1481). We have seen no specimen nor any 

 other record of the species for Jamaica. Swartz's citation may 

 have been due to the fact that Jacquin, in his first description of 

 the species {JEpidendrum altissimum PL Ins. Carib. 30, 1760), cited 

 Sloane's figure (Hist. Jam. i. t. 148, f. 1), which, as we have 

 seen, represents 0. luridum. The species is known from Guade- 

 loupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Vincent, Mexico, Panama, 

 Colombia, British Guiana, and Surinam. 



A very closely allied species, 0. spliacelatum Lindl., from 

 Florida and Central America, has been grown under the name 

 of O. altissimum in the Jamaica Botanic Gardens, and a flow r er is 

 figured on PI. 29, f. 22-25, but there is no satisfactory evidence 

 that it is native in Jamaica. 



57. LEOCHILUS Knowles & Westc.* 



Small epiphytic herbs. Stems very short, terminated by a 

 pseudobulb with one leaf, covered by membranous scarious 

 sheaths or a few leaves under the pseudobulb. Leaves oblong 

 or elliptical, flat, contracted into the stalk. Scapes under the 

 pseudobulb, thin, simple or more rarely somewhat branched. 

 Racemes lax, with small tender flowers, distinctly stalked. 

 Bracts about as long as the stalks or shorter, narrow, acute. 

 Sepals about equal, spreading, free or the lateral shortly connate 

 at the base. Petals similar to the sepals or a little broader. 

 Lip attached at the base of the column, continuous, spreading, 



* We have retained the original spelling for this genus. Bentham and 

 Hooker f., Gen. PI. iii. 561 (1883), on etymological grounds, wrote Leiochilus, 

 overlooking the fact that a genus of Bubiacece established by Hooker in 

 an earlier volume of the same work, ii. 116 (1873), bears the same name. 



