ONCIDIUM. 81 



One of tlie first orchids collected by Hartweg for the Horticultural 

 Society of London during his mission to Mexico and Central America, 

 1837 — 42. He sent it from Vera Cruz in 1837, but as the plant 

 was found in company with Berheris tenui/oh'a and other temperate 

 forms, the true locality is probably on the eastern slopes of Orizaba 

 at 3,000 — 4,000 feet elevation, one of the richest tracts of vegetation 

 in Mexico. It belongs to a small sub-section of the genus {Pauci- 

 tuherculata of Lindley) including Oncldtian clieirophorum, On. Mans, 

 On. Warneri, and one or two others in which the crest consists of 

 an even number of tubercles, 2 — 4.* 



Although a pretty and distinct species with whitish or straw- 

 coloured flowers with a pleasant primrose fragrance, it is now but 

 rarely seen in cultivation. 



On. suave. 



Pseudo-bulbs ovoid, 3 inches long, compressed, ancipitous, with 2 — 3 



shallow ribs on each of the flattened sides. Leaves linear, acuminate, 



6 or more inches long. Peduncles slender, 18 — 21 inches long, paniculate, 



the branches sliort, distant and few flowered. Flowers fragrant, exceeding 



an inch in diameter ; sepals and petals vmiform, narrowly lanceolate, 



acute, reflexed at the tip, dark sepia-brown, obscurely keeled behind ; lip 



bright yellow blotched with red-brown around the crest, three-lobed, 



the side lobes oval-oblong ; the intermediate lobe broadly clawed, 



transversely oblong, emarginate ; crest five-toothed, the central one much 



the largest. Column wings large, hatchet-shaped, bright yellow. 



Oiicidium suave, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1843, misc. No. 22. Id. in Paxt. Fl. Gard. II. 

 fig. 135. Id. Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 161. On. Wendlandiammi, Rchb. in Bonpl. II. 

 p. 91 (1850). On. macropterum, A. Rich. Orch. Mer. t. 32. On. lauceans, Hort. Sand. 

 Cat. p. 46. 



First imported from Mexico by Messrs. Loddiges through Deppe 



in 1835, and subsequently gathered by Schiede, Galeotti and other 



Mexican collectors in the neighbourhood of Oaxaca. We are indebted 



to Mr. F. W. Moore, of Glasnevin, for materials for description. 



On. superbiens. 



Pseudo-bulbs elongate-ovate, 3 — 4 inches long, compressed, monophyllous. 

 Leaves broadly linear, almost ensiform, 12 — 15 or more inches long. 

 Scapes flexuose, 4 — 5 or more feet long, branched at irregidar intervals, 

 the branches usually sliort and few llowcred ; bracts boat-shaped, sub- 

 acute, f inch long. Flowers 3 — 3.V inches in diameter ; sepals clawed, 

 wavy, reddish brown tipped with light yellow, the dorsal one somewhat 



The piudominating number throughout Oncidium is five. 



