12 



ONCIDIUM. 



This handsome species was first cultivated in 1839 by Mr. Greorge 

 Barker, of Birmingham, who had obtained it from M. Parmentier at 

 Paris. It was figured and described by Knowles and Westcott in 

 their Floral Cabinet for 1810 without any indication of its habitat; 

 it hadj however, been previously described in the Botanical Register 

 for 1837 by Lindley, under the name of Oncidium ramosum, from a 

 panicle gathered by Martius in the Brazilian province of Minas 

 Geraes, and subsequently it was figured in the same periodical for 

 1845 as Oti. siiilojiterum, from specimens received by Loddiges from 

 Brazil, who also exhibited a plant at one of the Horticultural Society's 

 meetings in 18i8 as On. FinelUanum. All these names, which tend 

 to show the variability of the species, were merged by Lindley when 

 revising the genus for his Folia Orchidacea into Knowles and 

 Westcott's Batemanianum, given in compliment to his friend the 

 author of Orchidacea of Mexico and Guatemala. 



Oncidium Batemanianum is a species with tall sparingly branched 

 panicles of remarkably bright-coloured flowers, of which the crest of 

 the labelhim is of peculiarly complicated structure. Although tractable 

 under cultivation it is now rarely seen in orchid collections. We 

 are indebted to the Royal Gardens at Kew for materials for 

 description. 



On. Baueri. 



Pseudo-bulbs oval-oblong, slightly compressed, 3 — 4 inches long, 

 diphyllous. Leaves ensiform, acuminate, 10 — 15 or more inches long. 

 Peduncles 5 — 7 or more feet long, branched from near the base, 

 branches numerous, gradually shorter upwards, the lower ones 7 — 10 

 flowered. Flowers 1 — IJ inches in diameter; sepals and petals linear- 

 lanceolate, undulate, yellowish green spotted with red-brown, the lateral 

 sepals free and divergent ; lip three-lobed, all the lobes yellow, the 

 basal two small, obcordate, the front one transversely oblong, emarginate, 

 broadly clawed, the claw red-brown with a fleshy whitish crest, 

 consisting of three series of teeth, two lateral groups of four each and 

 one of three teeth in front. Column with two short trimcate wings. 



Oncidium Baueri, Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 200 sub. On. altissiraum (1832). 

 Id. Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 154. On. altissimum, Bot. Reg. t. 1651. 



A species with a long straggling inflorescence that has been known 



to attain a length of 10 feet under cultivation, sometimes confused 



with Oncidium altissimum, from which it may be distinguished by 



its larger and smoother pseudo-bulbs, its longer and narrower leaves. 



