Plate 154. 



ONCIDIUM FALCIPETALUM. 



Hoolc-jpetaled Oncidium. 



Gen. Char. Perianthium explanatum. Sepala saepius undulata, laturalibus nuuc sub liiliLllo 

 coimatis, Petala conformia. Labellum maximum, ecalcaratum, cum columud coutiiiuum, varie 

 lobatum^ basi tuberculatum vel cristatum. Cohtmna semiteres, libera, apice utrinquc aLita. Aa- 



abbreviato, nunc elongato rostrato. Tollima 2, pnstict^ sulcata, 



nunc 



caudiculd plan^, glandula oblong^. Herbae epi2)7if/tce scBpias pseudohulhosee. Folia coriacea 

 LinJI. Gen. et Sp. 



OaciBwui falcijpetalum ; foliis lanceolatis acutis pergameniis scapo longissirnOj floribus tlciisc p.-i- 

 niculatis, Lracteis cymbiforinibus obtusis^ sepalis brevo uuguiculatis supremo bubrofundd 

 cordato, latcralibus ovato-oblongis obtusis^ potalis scssilibua brevioribus oblongis crispis com- 

 plicatis falcatim recurvis, labello carnoso hastato acutissimo basi utrinquc corrugato et la- 

 uiollis dentatis aucto, columna laevi, alis parvis semi-ovatis unidentatiH. 



Oncidium falcipetalum. Lindl. Orchid. Lind. 



Obontoglossum bastilabium, var. fuscatum. ITooA-. in Boi. Mag. t. 4919. 



A native of Venezuela, where it is found both on the ground and on troof;, at an 

 elevation of 5-6000 feet. Living flowering specimens were first produced March, 

 1856, in the collection of Messrs. Jackson and Sons, Kingston Nursery. 'The wild 

 spikes are sometimes twenty feet long, a stature four times greater than has yet been 

 attained in cultivation. A moderate temperature suits it best. 



Desce. a large epiphytal plant. Pseudohulhs four or five inches tall, broad and 

 compressed, furrowed, bearing two or more 



xtremity 



oblong, obtuse, subcoriaceous, not distinctly ner\ed in the recent plant, sliLditly keeled 

 at the back. Peduncle, or scape, from two or three to (in a wild state) twenty feet 

 long, arising from the base of a pseudobulb, and within a leaf springing from the root, 

 panicled above. Panicle large, branched, many-flowered : at the setting of the branches 

 is a small convex hract Sejyab and petals much spreading, nearly uniform (the petals 

 however being a little shorter and broader, and crisped at the edge and more incnn'ed), 

 lanceolate, acuminate, snbfalcate, subconduplicate, chocolate-brown within, outside 

 green : browTi at the margin. Up thrce-lobed, unguiculate, side-lobes very small, ovate, 



