ONCIDIUM. 85 



Lindley at tliat time failing to identify it with La Llave's Oncidium 

 tigrinum. The habitat given by the Mexican botanists is the Irapean 

 Mountains, not far from Valladolid, but a recent attempt to collect 

 it there seems to have failed.* According to Lindley it was after- 

 wards gathered by Ghiesbreght in Michoacan,t and many years later 

 it was found by Roezl near Colima^ on the mountains skirting the 

 Pacific coast.J 



The vai'iety splendidum first became known to the French botanist, 

 Achille Richard, through a dried specimen, probably communicated 

 to him by Graleotti ; its introduction into French gardens is due to 

 the late M. Quesnd, of Havre, who received plants from Guatemala 

 about forty years ago,§ some of which he distributed among his 

 friends, including M. Hermeut, of Caen, in Normandy, whence this 

 gentleman's name became erroneously associated with its introduction. 

 It does not appear to have found its way into British gardens till 

 some years afterwards, the earliest occasion of its flowering in this 

 country being in the collection of Lord Londesborough, at Norbiton, 

 in the spring of 1870. It continued to be very rare for many 

 years till a recent importation by Messrs. Sander and Co. has 

 caused it to become generally distributed. Usually described in the 

 horticultural periodicals as a species, it has but the slenderest claim 

 to such a distinction, the characters relied upon to separate it from 

 Oncidium tigrinum being chiefly the pseudo-bulbs and leaves, which 

 are certainly distinct in aspect, but show no difference that might 

 not have been brought about by local environment. H The variety 

 unguiculatum, in which the structural deviations from the type as 

 seen in the flowers are more conspicuous than in the variety 

 splendidum, finds less favour with amateurs than either; it is 

 occasionally imported with the species. On. tigrinum and its varieties 

 flower in the winter months and continue a long time in bloom. 



Oncidium tigrinum is called by the country people of Mexico Flor 

 de Muertos, or " Flower of the Dead,'' in accordance with a custom 

 that has prevailed in the country almost from the time of its first 



* Ileichenbachia, II. p. 87. 

 t Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 157. 

 t Belg. hort. XXXII. (1»82), p. 100. 

 § Godefroy's Orchidophile, 1891, p. 304. 



II More convincing than anything we can say on this point is a comparison of the various 

 coloured plates quoted in our literary references. 



