1887 



* ONCIDIUM Lanceanum. 



Mr, Lance s Oncidium. 



GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. 



Nat. ord. Orchidace^. 5( Vande;e. 

 ONCIDIUM.— Suprd, vol 13. foL 1050. 



A. Labellum trilobum. 

 § 1. Folia plana, v. complicata. 

 a. Sepala lateraVta libera. * Labelli hicinuc laterales nance v. obliteratce. 

 O. Lanceanum ; ebulbe, foliis oblongis acutis plain's substriatis carnosis, seapo racemoso 

 composito erecto rigido raccmulis confcrtifloris, se])alis ' petalisque coiifoiniibus ob- 

 loiis^is obtusis carnosis concavis niargine undulatis, labelli lobo medio dilatato sub- 

 cuneato integerrimo basi hastato : lobis lateralibus semi-ovatis, crista triloba carnosa 

 jiigoque elevate proclivi, colnmnai alls carnosis rotundatis, anthera cristata. 

 O. Lanceanum. Lindley in Hort. Trans, n.ser.vol. 2. jj. 100. tab. 7. 



This remarkable plant has lately been published in the Transactions 

 of the Horticultural Society of London, whence the follovving account of 

 it is extracted : — 



" In the year 1834, John Henry Lance, Esq. upon his return to England 

 from Surinam, where he had been residing several years, brought with him a 

 considerable collection of Orchideous Epiphytes, which he presented to the So- 

 ciety. Among other interesting species was the subject of the following memo- 

 randum ; a plant, than which a more acceptable addition to the hot-houses of 

 this country has rarely been made. 



" The genus Oncidium already includes several very beautiful species, in 

 particular 0. flexuosum, hifolium, ampliatum and crispum, but all these have 

 flowers in which yellow or brown are the only colours, they owe their beauty to 

 the graceful arrangement of their branches, and to the singular form of tlieu- petals, 

 rather than to their colour, and moreover their blossoms are destitute of fragrance. 

 When, therefore, it was ascertained that among Mr. Lance's plants there existed 

 an Oncidium, with violet-coloured sweet-scented flowers, great interest was ex- 

 cited, and no pains were spared to ensure its successful cultivation. Many plants 

 were soon distributed by Mr. Lance's orders, one of which blossomed in the hot- 

 house of the Messrs. Loddiges, and another shortly after in that of the Society. 

 The plant was found by no means difficult to manage ; and in point of beauty and 

 fragrance it more than answered all the expectations that had been entertained of 

 it. 



" The roots are flexuose, slender, simple elongations of the base of the stem, 

 evidently intended to grow upon places where the quantity of mould is insuffi- 

 cient to cover them ; they lengthen independently of their growth at the point, 

 like the aerial roots of other Epiphytal Orchidese, and diffiir from those of other 

 Oncidiums only in being of a greenish yellow colour. The leaves spread from a 

 very short, woody, annulated root-stock, and are about a foot in length on the 

 average ; they are of a broadly oblong figure, of a leathery consistence, are nearly 

 flat, a little curved back at the point, and have a light green colour faintly mottled 



* See folio 1542. 



