THE ONCIDIUM. 4< 



No tree in the lowlands is so great a nursery of 

 OrchidecB as the Calabash. On one of these I found 

 large masses of Brasavola nodosa, and on another a 

 species of noble size. Great thick ovate leaves a 

 foot and a half long, and four or five inches wide, 

 without bulbs, formed immense bunches on sevgral 

 of the principal branches and their forks, from the 

 axillge of which sprang pendant flower-spikes eight 

 feet or more in length, bearing, however, no flowers, 

 but elliptical seed-capsules three inches in length. 

 One of the tufts was throwing up a new blossom- 

 shoot ; and this I left untouched, in order to ascer- 

 tain the species. I suspected it to be Oncidium Car- 

 thaginense, and this it afterwards proved to be. It 

 came into full blossom about three months after- 

 wards, in the beginning of April ; at which time, 

 masses of the same species growing on the trees at 

 intervals all along the road between Bluefields and 

 Savanna-le-Mar, burst simultaneously into flower. 

 In a few weeks, however, the blossom had quite dis- 

 appeared ; and nothing was to be seen on any spe- 

 cimen but one or two maturing seed-vessels, till the 

 following year. Notwithstanding its size, the blos- 

 som is not conspicuous for beauty ; the loose, panicled 

 character of the raceme, and the hue of the flowers 

 (yellow, studded all over with red dots) detract from 

 its effect. This species is essentially a lowland 

 plant ; for though it is found at a considerable eleva- 

 tion on the mountain-slopes, it is most abundant 

 near the shore ; it bears the open sun better than 

 most Orchidece, 



On another Calabash, hanging over Bluefields 



