88 ONCIDIUM. 



First cultivated by Messrs. Loddiges in 1840 — 41, who informed 

 Dr. Liudley that it had been imported from Brazil, which, however, 

 is an error, as the plants cultivated in the Eoyal Gardens at Kew 

 were received from the West Indian Island of Antigua, the only 

 authentic habitat of the plant yet known. It is one of the equitant 

 Oncids with tail-like leaves that suggested the specific name, from 

 oj;|Oo, "a tail," and ^vXXov, "a leatV We are indebted to the Royal 

 Gardens at Kew for materials for description. 



On. varicosum. 



Pseudo-bulljs oval-obloug, compressed, furrowed, 3 — 4 inches long, di- 



rarely tri-pliyllous. Leaves ligulate-lauceolate, 6 — 9 inches long. Scapes 



nodding, glaucous, 3 — 5 feet long, flexuose and branched beyond the middle. 



Flowers variable in size, attaining their maximum in the variety Rogerdi; 



sepals and petals small and inconspicuous, dull yellow barred with pale 



red-brown ; dorsal sepal oval, concave ; lateral sepals comiate to beyond 



the middle, obovate ; petals narrowly oblong with crisped margin ; lip 



very large, bright yellow, sometimes with a red-brown l^lotch in front 



of the crest, the l^asal auricles roundish, the blade transversely and 



broadly reniform, 2 — 3 lobed ; crest consisting of " two triple teeth one 



standing before the otlier, and of a Httle rmg of varicose veins placed 



on each side of it." Column wings oblong, denticulate. 



Oncidium varicosum, Lindl. iu Bot. Reg. sub. t. 1920 (1837). Id. in Journ. 

 Hort. Soc. Lond. V. p. 143 (1850). Id. Fol. Orch. Oncid. No. 79. 



var.— Rogersii. 



Panicles much larger and more spreading. Flowers the largest of all 



the forms of Oncidium varicosum; the blade of the lip fully 2 inches 



across, and made fom'-lobed by three deep clefts in the anterior margin. 



On. varicosum Rogersii, Rclib. in Gard. Chron. 1870, p. 277, with fig. Fl. Mag. 

 1870, t. 477. Florist and Pomol. 1870, p. 25. Warner's Sel. Orch. II. t. 31. 

 Jennings' Orch. t. 29. Belg. hort. 1878, p. 172. 



Oncidium varicosum first became known to Dr. Lindley about the 



year 1837, through a specimen in the herbarium of Dr. Martius, 



which had been gathered in Brazil by Prince Maximilian, of Wied 



Neuwied. It was introduced to European gardens by M. de Jonghe, 



of Brussels, through Libon, who had rediscovered it in 1846 growing 



on the trunks of large trees in the neighbourhood of Yta, in the 



province of Sao Paulo. M. de Jonghe, in 1848, presented a plant 



to the Horticultural Society of London, which flowered in the 



Society's garden at Chiswick in the following year, the first occasion 



of its flowering iu this country. The variety Rogersii first appeared 



