60 ORCHIDS. 
ODONTOGLOSSUM. — Tooth and Tongue. 
WE come now to the third and most numerous of orchid 
tribes. Odontoglossum is from the Greek ddovg, a tooth, and yiéo0a, 
a tongue, with the usual Latin termination; so named from a 
fancied resemblance, in the blossom’s centre, to a tooth, and the 
likeness of the lip underneath to the tongue. This species is 
nearly related to, and much resembles, the Oncidium. It is of the 
class epiphytes; and was first collected by Humboldt and Bon- 
pland, during their travels in South America. 
This genus is classed among the cool orchids, and is found 
chiefly in the mountain ranges. Our best American author, Mr. 
Rand, says that “in 1833 there were only five known species of the 
Odontoglossum, but every year has brought additions, and each 
new comer seems to be more attractive than any before known.” 
One firm in England, Messrs. Shuttleworth & Co., of Clapham, not 
long since, had in their greenhouses ten thousand of these plants. 
A recent English journal instructs us that, “as with most 
other variable orchids, the extraordinary variability of this species 
may be accounted for largely by the different latitudes over which 
it is distributed. In this respect, its stability is still further en- 
croached upon by the great variations exhibited in the flowers of 
plants from each locality. Thus it is that different names, well 
understood when the plant was rare, have now but little meaning.” 
M. Roezl employed native children to collect specimens for 
him on the western slope of the central Cordillera, in San Domingo; 
he derived much pleasure from his business relations with them, 
and the young natives seemed to find great pleasure as well as 
profit in their new occupation. 
