[Plate 6. J 
THE PURPLE-LIPPED ONCID. 
(ONCJOIUM HJBMATOCHILUM.l 
A Stove Epiphyte, from New Grenada, belonging to the Natural Order of Orchids. 
gpcci&t Cljaracfrr. 
THE PURPLE-LIPPED O^CW,~(SQ(tt.PluHtub€rralate.) 
Bulbless. Leaves oblong, liat, thick, sharp-pointed, spotted, 
growing singly. Racemes compact, stiff. Sepals distinct, 
and the petals all of similar form, spathulate, wavy ; lip 
roundish, with auricles at the base ; the crest scarcely 
evident at the base, wavy in front like the letter W, thence 
raised into an eminence, with a toothlet on each side. 
Wings of the column rounded, curved downwards, some- 
what lobed. 
H&MA 
ebulbe, foliis oblongis planis coriaceis acutis maculatis 
solitariis, racemis densis rigidis, sepalis liberis petalisque 
conformibus spathulatis undulatis, labello subrotundo 
basi auriculato, crista basi obsoieta antice flexuosa (literam 
W referente), inde in juguni product* denticulo utrinque ; 
columnse alis rotundatis decurvis sublobatis. 
r £HE accompanying drawing was made in September, 1847, from a plant in the possession of 
Messrs. Loddiges, and we believe it is found in their list under the provisional name of 0. faridmi 
purpuratum. They had imported it from New Grenada j but it does not occur among any dried 
collections which we have examined from that country. 
In foliage it resembles the Carthagena Oncid (0. carthaginense) and its allies ; the leaves being 
hard, stiff, dull green, spotted with brown, and destitute of any evident pseudo-bulb. The flowers, 
too, grow in the same manner, but they are very different in details of structure, as well as in colour 
and size. The sepals and petals are a warm greenish yellow, strongly blotchrd with rich chesnut- 
brown. The lip, on the other hand, is of the richest crimson, except near the base, where it fades 
into bright rose-colour. The crest, by the minute peculiarity of which Oncids are often most 
certainly known, resembles the letter W, having in the rear a short, flattish, narrow space, and in 
front a well-defined projection,, with a small tooth on each side. 
By these circumstances it is readily distinguished from the neighbouring species, in none of 
which such an arrangement occurs, varied as are the forms assumed by the tubercles of their crest. 
In all the varieties of the Carthagena Oncid there is, for instance, a pair of strong warts in place of 
the small teeth, one on each side of the anterior elevation, and the W-like body is divided into two 
distinct Vs. In the sanguine Oncid the two posterior tubercles are more oblong, projecting with a 
furrow along tlie middle. In Professor Morren's new Rosette Oncid (0. co^jmhephoruni), nearly allied 
to this, there is quite a bunch of tubercles at the base of the lip. 
( 
