116 EPIDENDRDM. 



E. Sceptrum. 



AuLiZBUM. Stems from a stoutish rhizome, clavate, compressed, 9 — 12 



inches long, bearing near their summits 3 — 4 ligulate leaves, 8 — 12 inches 



long. Peduncles erect, 18 — 24 inches long, racemose along the distal 



two-thirds. Flowers inverted, mnnerous, 1|^ inches in diameter; sepals 



and petals bright golden yeUow spotted with blackish purple, the upper 



sepal and petals linear-oblong, acute, the lateral sepals narrowly spathu- 



late ; lip sub-orbicular, apiculate, deep purple, the disk milk-white spotted 



with maroon-purple. Column greenish. 



Ei)idendrum Sceptrum, Lindl. Orch. Lind. No. 50 (1846). Id. Fol. Orch. Ep. 

 No. Ill (1853). nius. hort. n.s. XXVIII. (1881), p. 96. 



Native of the eastern Cordillera of New Granada^ at 5,000 — 7,000 



feet elevation, from Ocaiia northwards to Santa Marta, and of the 



mountains of Venezuela, between Pamplona and Merida. It was first 



detected by Linden near the Indian village of Jaji ( ? ) growing on 



the trunks of decaying trees, and was subsequently gathered by other 



collectors in various localities. It was introduced by its discoverer 



in 1843. The species is a variable one as regards the size and 



colour of the flowers. 



E. Schomburgkii. 



EuEPiDEXDRUM. Stems terete, slender, 24 — 30 or more inches high, 



leafy along the iipper portion. Leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 3 — 4 



inches long. Peduncles greatly elongated, jointed with a linear acuminate 



bract at each joint, and terminating in a loose corymbose, many-flowered 



raceme. Flowers 1| — 2 inches in diameter, bright vermilion-red, the 



apex of the column orange-yellow ; sepals and petals spreading, similar 



and sub-equal, linear-lanceolate, acute ; lip three-lobed, fringed at the 



margin, the side lobes broadly rotund, falcate, the intermediate one 



triangular-cuneate with two median raised lines, at the base of which is a 



two-lobed yellow callus. 



Epidendrum Schomburgkii, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1838, misc. No. 16. Id. t. 53. 

 Paxt. Mag. Bot. X. p. 121. E. fulgens, Brongn. Voy. Duperrey, t. 43, ex. Lindl. 

 Fol. Orch. Ep. No. 219. E. pristes, Kchb. in Gard. Chron. XXVL (1886), p. 262. 



Discovered by Dr. Schomburgk during his second expedition into 



the interior of British Guiana in 1837, growing on trees on the 



banks of the Commewyne River, and sent by him to Messrs. 



Loddiges, of Hackney, in whose nursery it flowered in the following 



year. According to Dr. Lindley,* it has also been gathered in 



Surinam by Focke, at Pernambuco in Brazil by Gardner, and on 



the Andes of Quito by Jaraieson ; the geographical distribution of 



» Fol. Orch. Ep. No. 219. 



