80 EPIDENDRUM. 



cave, pure white, the sepals oval-oblong, the petals broadly oval, acute ; 



lip smaller than the other segments, sessile and at a right angle to the 



column, white, dotted with purple, three-lobed, the side lobes oblong, 



oblique, the middle lobe lanceolate, acute ; crest fleshy, two-lobed, the 



lobes horn-like, erect, yellowish. Column broad, semi-terete above, winged, 



white with some purple spots and markings at the base on the inner 



side. 



Diacrium bicornutum, Bentli. iu Join-. Liuu. Soc. XVIII. j). 312 (1881). Eolfe in 

 Gard. Chron. II. s. 3 (1887), p. 44, icon. xyl. Epidendrum bicornutum, Hook. Bot. 

 Mag. t. 3332 (1834). Paxt. Mag. Bot. V. p. 245 (1838). Schomb. Fl. Brit. Guiana, 

 III. p. 907. Lindl. Fol. Orch. Ep. No. 82. Jennings' Orch. t. 21. Williams' Orch. 

 Alb. IV. t. 157. 



First introduced by Messrs. Shepherd^ of Liverpool, in 1833, from 

 Trinidad, wliere it is found growing on rocks or small islets so 

 close to the sea that they must often be bathed by salt spray ; 

 it flowered for the first time in this country in the collection of 

 Earl Fitz William, at Wentworth, near Rotlierhara, in April of tlie 

 following year, which is its normal season of flowering in the glass 

 houses of Europe. Some years later it was detected by Sir Robert 

 Schomburgk in Demerara, where it grows on the trunks of trees on 

 the banks of the river; the flowers of the Demerara plant are said 

 to differ from the Trinidad type, in having the petals spotted with 

 purple like the lip. It has also been gathered in Tobago and other 

 West India islands. 



CuUural i\^o/e.— This orchid has frequently proved disappointing, a 

 circumstance partly due, we have no doubt, to the difficulty of importing 

 it in sound condition. Its hollow stems are inhabited by small ants, 

 which find ingress through a cleft at the base that invariably occms in 

 the new growths under cultivation, and probablj'' also in a wild state ; 

 they are prone to decay from within, and frequently crack during trans- 

 mission, and in however small a degree they may be so affected, the plants 

 never get well established in the glass houses of this country, and die 

 in the course of two or three years after importation. With thoroughly 

 sound plants the case is more hopeful ; teak baskets are usually pre 

 ferred, and as they require but a very small quantity of compost, a 

 good drainage can always be secured. The compost should consist of 

 the usual proportions of sphagnum and fibrous peat, with which many 

 cultivators mi-x some pieces of charcoal. The habitat of the species 

 indicates a high temperature and moist atmosphere, and these conditions 

 are therefore necessary, especially Avhile the plant is growing. 



