sepals and petals and the frequently deeply emarginate petals with 
a mucronate tip. The sepals and petals are always fleshy-coriaceous. 
Illustrations: Amer. Orch. Soc. Bull. 27: 748, 1958, as O. nubi- 
genum; ibid. 27: 757, 1958; Florida Orchidist 10: 14, 1967, as O. 
nubigenum. 
Oncidium nubigenum Lindl., Gen. and Sp. Orch. 
Pl. 197, 1833. 
Syn.: Oneidium cucullatum var. nubigenum (Lindl. ) 
Lindl. Folia Orch. Oncidium 22, 1855. 
Oncidium olivaccum var. nubigenum (Lindl.) Sander, 
Orch. Guide 188, 1901. 
Type: Ecuador, on the ridge of Azuay mountains. 
Coll. Jameson .s.2/ (K,K-L). 
Observation: Dorsal sepal elliptic, dorsally carinate, 11 mm. long, 
6 mm. wide; lateral sepals, connate basally to } of their length, cari- 
nate toward apex, 13 mm. long, 5 mm. wide; petals elliptic, obtuse 
to abruptly subapiculate, never mucronate, 1] mm. long, 7 mm. wide; 
lip 3-lobed, lateral lobes semiovate, without a sinus and imbricating 
the reniform midlobe, 17 mm. long, 13 mm. across lateral lobes, 23 
mm. across terminal lobe; callus very large in comparison with others 
of the immediate relationship, with a retrorse conical point. 
The flowers of O. nubigenum can be compared only with those of 
O. azuayense, but the two differ from one another in many important 
points. The flowers in O. nubigenum are of thin texture, sepals and 
petals never papillose dorsally, petals never mucronate, lateral sepals 
free almost to base, and the callus of the lip is robust. The flowers in 
O. azuayense are rather coriaceous in texture, sepals and petals papil- 
lose dorsally, petals mucronate and commonly emarginate, lateral 
sepals connate nearly to apex, and the callus of lip is insignificant. 
What prompted Lindley to reduce this species to a variety of O. 
cucullatum in 1855 will never be understood. But, it surely has confused 
the issue ever since. Already in 1867 Reichenbach complained (Gard. 
Chron. p. 376) * . when the lamented Dr. Lindley was a young 
lynx-eyed observer, he called this plant a good species. When he was 
older, and it had come into fashion to combine very heterogeneous 
types in ‘one species” because ‘there were too many species’, he be- 
lieved it was his duty to cancel some of his own, and this Oncidium 
was degraded to the rank of a variety. We believe this was a mistake, 
since the many flowers... . never show any cucullate anther-bed, 
never have a nasiform keel on the lip, nor is there ever an isthmus 
to the lip’. 
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