coloured form, and amongst the plants more recently imported we have observed 
several plants which fully equal it in every detail. 
The portrait of the form here introduced to our readers is an exceedingly fine 
one, and it bloomed last season in the collection of H. J. Robinson, Esq., Aymestrey 
Court, Woolton, Liverpool. It produced a much-branched well-flowered spike, which 
was perfectly enchanting. 
Oncidium splendidum is a lovely species, its evergreen leaves and pseudobulbs 
being thoroughly distinct ; the latter are somewhat short, roundish, or ovate, and 
compressed ; they bear upon the summit a single thick and fleshy leaf, which is of 
a deep sage-green, tinged with dull brown. The spike rises from the side of the 
bulb near to the base, and attains the height of from eighteen inches to three 
feet, the upper portion being more or less branched, and bearing numerous brightly 
coloured and showy flowers. Sepals and petals yellow or yellowish green, transversely 
barred with rich brown, whilst the lip is large and flat, of great substance, and 
clear rich yellow, the dise ornamented with about three raised white ridges. This 
particular specimen bloomed in the month of March of the present year, and we 
have seen this species blooming from the commencement of the new year, and they 
last for three weeks or a month in full perfection. 
We have found the imported plants of this species thrive admirably in either 
a basket or a pot, and the strong growths bloom very freely. In the earlier times 
we had very little opportunity of estimating the habit of growth or its free- 
blooming qualities, as the few plants then known were cut for making stock as 
frequently as possible. In February of the year 1871, however, Lord Londesborough, 
then a distinguished patron of horticulture, exhibited a plant of Oncidium splendidum 
in flower before the Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society at South Kensington, 
when it was much admired, and received a First Class Certificate. Whether grown 
in a basket or pot it requires to be well drained, and it does not require a great 
amount of soil about its roots; this should consist of rough fibrous peat, from which 
all the fine soil has been beaten, and to this may be added a small portion of sphagnum 
moss. Some small pieces of potsherds mixed with the soil will also serve to keep 
the soil open and porous, and thus the water is carried away quickly instead of 
remaining, causing the soil to become sour and stagnate, in which condition this 
plant soon deteriorates, and the evils of which I have so frequently explained in 
these pages, and cautioned my readers against allowing any Orchid to be overtaken 
in this unhappy condition. In potting or basketing, make the soil very firm ; when 
growing, a liberal supply of moisture and a moist atmosphere is requisite, but when 
the growth is mature very little will suffice. In the autumn or beginning of winter 
the spikes begin to push up, when an increase in the water supply will be 
necessary in order to induce good development of flowers. This plant should be 
grown in the Cattleya house, and it requires all the light possible, but in the 
most powerful sunshine a little shade will be found necessary. It is a plant very 
little troubled with insect pests, yet sometimes the white scale infests it, and unless 
this is speedily cleared away, the plant soon declines in health, and declines to 
make new growth. 
