ODONTOGLOSSUM CORDATUM.— 
[PLaTe 186.] 
Native of Aexico. 
Epiphytal.  Pseudobulbs oblong obtuse, compressed. Leaves broadly oblong, 
acute, shorter than the scape, channelled, six to seven inches long. Scape issuing 
from the axil of accessory leaves, bearing a distichous raceme of numerous flowers, 
each having a navicular acuminate bract much shorter than the ovary. Flowers 
stellately expanded, three inches and a half deep, and two-and-a-half inches across ; 
sepals lanceolate, caudate-acuminate, the lateral ones longest, yellow,. the surface 
almost wholly covered by transverse oblong bars of bright chestnut-brown, the 
extreme apex being yellow; petals lanceolate, shorter than the sepals, and somewhat 
broader near the base, caudate-acuminate at the apex, yellow, marked almost 
throughout with roundish blotches of bright chestnut-brown, the apex entirely brown, 
the spots smaller near the base; lip cordate, very much acuminated, entire, the 
median line from base to apex marked with more or less confluent spots of brown, 
and the apex entirely brown, the claw having a fleshy appendage or crest, which 
is bilobed in front, and at the base furnished with a tooth on each side. Column 
pale green, clavate, somewhat winged, pubescent. 
OpontoeLossuM corDATuM, Lindley, Botanical Register, 1838, misc. 90; Knowles 
and Westcott, Floral Cabinet, t. 100; Pescatorea, t. 26; Paxton, Magazine of 
Botany, xiii., 147, with tab.; Botanical Magazine, t. 4878 (as maculatum); Bateman, 
2nd Century of Orchidaceous Plants, t. 167; Id., Monograph of Odontoglossum, 
t. 25; Gurtenflora, t. 356. 
We here introduce to our readers one of the oldest of Odontoglots, but it is one 
of a very distinct character, which should find a home in every collection, its curiously 
spotted flowers, and its cordate lip, being pleasing in character. There are several 
varieties of this species known in cultivation, but that which we have before us is 
a really good form, being a free grower, and being also free in producing its long 
-Tacemes of flowers, which afford a good contrast when grown amongst our more 
Showy kinds. Our illustration was. taken from a plant in the collection of 
A. Sillem, Esq., Lawrie Park, Sydenham, to whom we owe our obligations for the 
opportunity of making the drawing, and in whose collection we have seen some 
fine and rare Orchids in bloom at different times under the care of Mr. Billiard, 
Who is Mr. Sillem’s gardener. 
ae The Odontoglossum cordatum we have figured is a compact-habited evergreen 
_ Plant, which grows about ten inches in height, and which has light green foliage. 
The floral racemes are produced very freely, and the flowers are gaily coloured, the 
sepals and petals being of a pale yellow, heavily spotted and barred with chestnut- 
