ONCIDIUM. 57 



were probably the first to reach Europe alive. It is believed to 

 be a very rare species in its native home, where, so far as at present 

 known, it is confined to a district of limited extent. 



Our description was taken from a plant that flowered in our 

 houses in the Spring of 1891, and which is now in the superb 

 collection of Baron Schroeder at The Dell. 



On. luridum. 



Pseudo-bulbs none. Leaves from a stout rhizome, oval-oblong, variable 



in size, 12 — 18 or more inches long, very leathery and generally with 



some small brown spots on both sides. Scapes 3 — 6 feet long, dull red- 



broAvn, loosely paniculate, the branches distant, short, 3 — 5 floAvered. 



Flowers 1| inches in diameter, very variable in colour, usually yellow- 



or red-brown with some yellow markings and spots ; sepals and petals 



clawed, much undulated at the margin ; upper sepal broadly oval or 



sub-orbicular, concave on the inner side ; lateral sepals free, spathulate 



oblong ; petals oblong, obtuse ; lip three-lobed, the side lobes small, 



rounded with revolute margin; the front lobe shortly and broadly 



clawed, transversely oblong, emarginate ; crest five-lobed, tlie front lobe 



an erect rounded plate, yellow spotted with red, on each side of this 



is a smaller, rounded rose-coloured tul)ercle, the two posterior lobes white, 



much tuberculated. Column wings reniform, pink or white. 



Oncidium luridum, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. t. 727 (1823). Id. Gea. et Sp. Orch. 

 p. 201 (1833). Id. Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 131. Bot. Mag. t. 3603 (1837). On, 

 cuneatum, Lindl. Collect. Bot. sub. t. 27. On. olivaceum, Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. 

 p. 202. Epidendrum guttatum, Lin. Sp. PI. p. 1351. Cymbidiuin guttatum, Wild. 

 Sp. PI. IV. p. 102. 



var.— intermedium. 



Peduncles shorter, more rigid and with Hexuose branches. Flowers 

 larger with all the segments bright yellow, with numerous circular red- 

 brown spots. 



On. luridum intermedium, Lindl. Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 131. On, intermedium, 

 Knowles and Westc. Fl. Cab. II. p. 53, t. 60. Williams' Orch. Alb. VIII. t. 345. 



SUb-vars. — atratum (Journ. Hort. Soc. VI. (1851), p. 54, with fig), 

 sepals and petals olive and rose, lip biown ; guttatum {Bot. Reg. 1839, 

 t. 19), sepals and petals chestnut-broAvn spotted and margined with 

 yellow, lip paler, column whitish; M. Morren's (Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 

 131 E), sepals and petals pale rose spotted with crimson and tipped 

 with yellow, lip cinnamon-brown ; Mr. Dodgson's (Williams' Manual, p. 

 490), flowers orange-yellow barred with dark brown ; i^uriniratinn (Gard. 

 Cliron. 1848, p. 149, with fig.), sepals and petals speckled with purple, 

 lip crimson as in Oncidium Lanceanum.* 



* Probably a natural hybrid between Oncidium luridum and On. Lanceanum. It does not 

 appear to have been seen since its introduction by Messrs. Loddiges in 1847. 



