ODONTOGLOSSUM HASTILABIUM. 
[PLaTE 425.] 
Native of New Grenada. 
Epipbytal. =Pseudobulbs ovate, compressed, having two more or less sharp 
edges, much corrugated when old, light green. Leaves ample, in pairs produced from 
the apex of the pseudobulbs, oblong lanceolate, coriaceous in texture and rich green. 
Scape erect, much branched, from three to six feet in height, and having many 
showy flowers, which are more than three inches across. Bracts boat-shaped, 
acuminate, about equal in length to the ovary, pale green. Sepals and petals 
spreading, from an inch and a half to two inches long, linear-lanceolate, acute, pale 
greenish yellow, in some forms cream colour, transversely barred with numerous 
lines of dark reddish purple, the basal part being blotched with the same colour ; 
lip hastate, narrow at the base, with a broadly acute front lobe, which is 
pure white, rich purple at the base; the crest consists of four plates, which are 
deep purple. Column quite destitute of wings, also deep purple, the anther case 
white. 
ODONTOGLOssUM HASTILABIUM, Lindl., Folia Orchidacee, No. 51, 1852; Botanical 
Magazine, t. 4272; Pescatorea, 1860, t. 11; Bateman’s ; Monograph of Odonto- 
glossums, t. 7; Veitch’s Manual of Orchidaceous Plants, i., p. 38 (with woodcut) ; 
Lindenia, v., t. 213; Williams’ Orchid Grower's Manual, 6th ed., p. 443. 
The plant now under consideration has been in cultivation nearly fifty years, 
and we have both known and grown it for some thirty years or more, having 
always held it in the highest estimation. The plant is said to grow as an 
epiphyte on the large cable-like stems which overhang the lagoons and running 
streams in New Grenada, whilst it is found in other localities growing with various 
plants, in large masses. It occurs at a lower elevation than many of the species of 
Odontoglossum, having been found at some 2,500 feet elevation, but yet is abundant 
at 9,000 feet and even higher. The species is said to have been first detected 
by M. J. Linden, of Brussels, and the first time of its flowering in England occurred © 
in 1846, in the collection of the Duke of Northumberland, at Syon House, Brentford, 
where in those days were gathered together an immense number of rare and beautiful 
plants. The plant whose portrait we now lay before our readers was a specimen 
which grew and flowered in our own collection at Upper Holloway, in the month 
of July in the year 1889. Its natural flowering season, however, is said to be 
from January to April, but it appears to be a very variable plant in its time of 
blooming. 
Odontoglossum hastilabium is a stately species, growing to a large size, the stout 
pseudobulbs being flattened at the edges, much wrinkled, and bearing on the 
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