EPIDENDRUM. 115 



Introduced from Guatemala in 1839 by Mr. G. Ure Skinner, who 

 stated that " in its native country it grows among long grass and 

 dried leaves and flowers from October to January." It was shortly 

 afterwards sent by Hartweg from southern Mexico to the Horticul- 

 tural Society of London ; it flowered for the first time in this 

 country in Mrs. Lawrence's collection at Ealing. Epidendrum ladicans 

 is the most brilliant of the red-flowered Epidendrums; the plant is of 

 semi-scandent habit, and when trained to a trellis or some such 

 suitable contrivance, its showy flowers are rendered very effective. 

 The sub-variety, which deviates from the type in colour only, is in 

 cultivation in Sir Trevor Lawrence's collection at Burford Lodge. 



E. raniferum. 



EuEPiDBNDRUM. Stems terete, erect, leafy along the upper half, 2 — 3 



feet high, jointed, the internodes clothed with membraneous striated 



sheaths. Leaves narrowly lanceolate, acute, 3 — 5 inches long. Racemes 



drooping, few flowered. Flowers 2 inches in diameter; sepals and petals 



spreading iu a stellate manner, bright yellow-green spotted with red-brown, 



the sepals ligulate, convex, the petals linear; lip deeply four-lobed, the 



two basal lobes obliquely oblong with a cleft in the outer margin which 



is also irregularly toothed, white with a yellowish stain at the edge ; 



the anterior lobes linear, divergent, yellow ; crest two-lobed, white spotted 



with purple. Column terete, dilated at the apex, greenish white. 



Epidendrum raniferum, Lindl. Gen. et. Sp. Orch. p. 109 (1831). Id. Bot. Reg. 

 1842, t. 42. Id. Fol. Orch. Ep. No. 167. Fl. Mag. n. s. t. 445. 



This species first became known to science from a dried specimen 

 preserved in Mr. A. B. Lambert's collection, which had been gathered 

 in Mexico. It was probably first introduced in a living state from 

 that country by Mr. Barker, of Birmingham, from whose collection 

 Dr. Lindley received the materials for figuring and description in 

 the Botanical Register for 1842, at which time it was in cultivation 

 in several places. A little later it was sent to Messrs. Loddiges, 

 from British Guiana, by Dr. Schomburgk, who met with it on the 

 banks of the Piver Essequibo growing on the stems of trees.* 

 The species is a variable one, not only in the colour of the flowers 

 but also in the lobing and denticulation of the lip ; the Guiana 

 form is distinguished from the Mexican by its brighter yellow flowers 

 with a white lip that is somewhat differently lobed. We are in- 

 debted to Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., for materials for description. 



* Reisen in Britisch. Guiana, III. p. 906, 



