ONCIDIUM. 



to blackish brown when old, diphyllous. Leaves oblong or oblanceolate- 



oblong, 8 — 12 inches long and 1^ — 3 inches broad, complicate at the 



base, very leathery, dark green. Peduncles stoutish, sub-erect or arching, 



variable in length, the longest sometimes attaining 3 — 4 feet, branched 



towards the extremity. Flowers numerous, 1 — 1| inches in diameter; 



sepals almost concealed by the petals and lip, the lateral two free, 



spathulate-oblong, concave at the dilated part, pale yellow, with 1 — 2 



red-brown blotches ; petals clawed, sub-orbicular, bright canary-yellow, 



white behind ; lip large and spreading, with a short claw, two small 



oblong basal auricles with reflexed margin and a transverse broadly 



oblong blade with a cleft in the anterior margin, bright canary-yeUow, 



whitish l)eneath ; crest thick, three-toothed, white spotted with red. 



Column with a light yellow apical toothed wing and a smaller one on 



each side of the stigma. 



Oncidium ampliatum, Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 202 (1832). BoL Reg. t. 1699 

 (1835). Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 90. Van Houtte's Fl. des Serves, XX. t. 2140—41 

 (majus). Sander's Eeichenbachia, II. t. 70. 



Y'-'/itv^ 



Oncidium ampliatum. 



Discovered by Cuming in 1831 — 2 near the Gulf of Nicoya^ 

 in Costa Rica^ and introduced by Mr. Richard Harrison, of 

 Liverpool, in whose garden it flowered in March, 1835. It was 

 subsequently gathered by Mr. G. Ure Skinner, Warscewicz, Purdie and 

 other collectors in various parts of Central America from Guatemala 

 to the Isthmus of Panama, and whence it has since been frequently 

 imported. It has also been detected in Trinidad, where herbarium 

 specimens were gathered by Dr. Bradford in 1846 ; and in New 

 Granada by Burke, who saw it growing on trees overhanging 

 streams flowing into the Magdalena at 500 — 1,000 feet elevation in 

 partial shade. The species is variable in the size of its pseudo- 

 bulbs, leaves and inflorescence, and especially in the flowers, which 



