ONCIDIUM. 



79 



flowered in 1851. It has since been occasionally imported from 

 Caracas witli Oattleija lahiata Mossice. The specific name was 

 suggested by the absence of the stalk or unguis in the sepals and 

 petalsj so generally characteristic of Oncids. 



On. sphacelatum. 



Pseudo-bulbs nearly oblong, cunipressed with acute edges, 4 — 6 inches 



long, di-triphyllous. Leaves linear-ligulate, somewhat rigid, 15 — 24 inches 



long. Scapes 3 — 5 feet long, mottled with dull purple, much branched, 



the branches short. Flowers numerous, brightly coloured, exceeding 



an inch in diameter ; sepals and petals narrowly oblong, undulate, 



reflexed at the tip, dark chestnut-brown barred with yellow ; lip 



sub-panduriform, golden yellow with a red-brown band in front of 



the crest ; crest a fleshy plate, three-lobed in front, toothed at the 



sides. Coluimi wings small, oblong, depressed. 



Oncidiiun sphacelatum, Lindl. Sert. Orch. sub. t. 48 (1838). Id. Bot. Reg. 1842. 

 t. 30. Id. Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 151. On. Massaugei, Morren in Belg. hort. 1877, 

 p. 124. 



A handsome species^ well known as one of the most useful of 

 Oncids in a horticultural sense^ being of easy culture and constantly 

 flowering during April — June. It was first collected for the Horti- 

 cultural Society of London in southern Mexico by Hartweg, in 1840, 

 and shortly afterwards it was received from Honduras by Messrs. 

 LoddigeSj in whose nursery it flowered for the first time in this 

 country in February^ 1841. It was next sent from Guatemala by 



^^d^l^i^ 



Oncidiuni sphacelatum. 



Mr. G. Ure Skinner to Mr. Bateman and other amateurs, and has 

 doubtless been in cultivation ever since. A peculiarity by which 

 Oncidium sphacelatum may be recognised is seen in the bud just 

 before expansion ; the points of the sepals and petals are here always 

 bent back like five recurved horns. The specific name sjihacelatum 



