ONCIDIUM. 7 



the flowering till the plants have acquired sufficient strength to produce 

 their inflorescence without prejudicial results. The experiment is certainly 

 worth the trial. 



Synopsis of Species and Varieties. 



Oncidium altissimum. 



Pseudo-bulbs ovate-oblong, compressed, with very acute edges, 3 — 3| 

 inches long and 2 — 2^ inches wide, mono-diphyllous. Leaves ligulate, 

 acute, 10 — 12 or more inches long. Peduncles several feet long, shortly 

 branched from below the middle upwards, each branch bearing 3 — 5 

 flowers; bracts membraneous, whitish, very acute, ^ inch long. Flowers 

 1| inches in diameter ; sepals and petals similar and sub-equal, narrowly 

 oblong, undulated, pale yellow, barred and blotched with pale chestnut- 

 brown along the central area ; the lateral sepals free and divergent ; lip 

 three-lobed, the side lobes small, turned backwards, oblong, rounded at 

 the free end, bright yellow ; the front lobe with a broad saddle-like 

 red-brown claw and transversely oblong eniarginate blade, yellow above, 

 white beneath ; crest ten-toothed, the teeth arranged in two series of 

 five each, of which the central one of the front five is the largest. 

 Column wings narrow and rounded. 



Oncidium altissimum, Swartz in K. Vet. Acad. Stockh. Nya. Handl. XXI. p. 240 



(1800). £ot. Mag. t. 2990 (1830). Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 200. Id. £ot. Reg. 



t. 1851 (1836). Id. Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 150. E])idendrum altissimum, Jacquin. 

 Amer. p. 229, t. 141. 



One of the first Oncids that became known to science and to 



horticulture. It was introduced to the Royal Gardens at Kew in 



1793 by Rear- Admiral Bligb, but was shortly afterwards lost. It 



was sent to the Botanic Garden at Glasgow from the island of 



St. Vincent about the year 1829^ and a few years later it was 



imported by Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney. It is still occasionally 



seen in orchid collections, but it has declined in favour since the 



appearance of its more brilliantly- coloured congeners. Oncidium 



altissimum is generally dispersed over the West Indian Islands, 



British Guiana, and adjacent parts of South America, often growing 



in immense masses in the forks of the largest branches of the 



forest trees. 



On. ampliatum. 



Pseudo-bulbs broadly ovate or sub-orbicular, much compressed, 

 almost discoid, 2^ — 4 inches in diameter, the flattened sides much 

 wrinkled and mottled with dull purple, red and grey-green, changing 



