ONCIDIUM. 473 



they are generally best grown in pots or baskets in a compost 

 of peat and moss, -with good drainage. They require a liberal 

 supply of heat and moisture in the growing season, but after- 

 wards only just enough water to keep their leaves and pseudo- 

 bulbs plump and firm. The Cattleya house is most suited for 

 the greater portion of them, but some kinds will do better in 

 the cool house. These plants are very accommodating, since 

 they will thrive in either house. They are propagated by divi- 

 sion of the pseudobulbs. The following are all fine sorts, of 

 easy culture, and ought to be in every collection. There are, 

 however, many other species of Oncidium worth growing, 

 besides those named in the following descriptions. 



0. acinaceuni, Lindley. — A very distinct and elegant species 

 with oval pseudobulbs, each bearing three flat leaves, and 

 producing flower scapes from one to two feet long, the upper 

 portion of which becomes a twining raceme. The flowers are 

 about an inch across, the sepals linear retusc, white, the 

 lateral ones connate, the petals broad obovate, violet bordered 

 with white, and the concave lip of the same colours, streaked 

 with carmine. The column has two large acinaciform ears. 

 It should be grown in the cool house. — Feru. 



0. ampliatuin, Lindley. — A showy species, with roundish 

 compressed pseudobulbs, flat oblong lanceolate leaves, and 

 erect flower scapes branched at the top, and forming an ample 

 panicle, the flowers having a broad transverse subrotund 

 bilobed lip of a clear yellow, paler almost white behind, 

 and with a three-lobed callus at the base. There are two 

 varieties of this species to be met with in gardens, dilfering 

 only in the size of the flowers. — Central America; Santa 

 Ma rth a ; Co lomh ia . 



Fig.— Bot. Reg., t. 1C99. 



0. ampliatum majUS, Ilort., is one of the finest Oncids 

 in cultivation. It produces its large bright yellow flowers in 

 abundance, on a long branching spike three or four feet 

 high, in April, May, and June, and continues blooming for 

 two months. The flowers are almost white on the outer 

 surface. This variety majns is a robust-growing plant, and 

 should be grown ia a mixture of peat and sphagnum ; when 



