598 oechid-grower's manual. 



^nd bronzy-green in colour, bearing on the apex a single leaf which is some 

 '5 inches or more in length, by about 1 inch in breadth, lanceolate, acute, 

 carinate beneath and rich deep green; scape radical, much longer than the 

 leaves, furnished with numerous oblong-acute bracts, and bearing from one to 

 three or more flowers which are somewhat thick and fleshy in texture and 

 nearly 2 inches across ; sepals oblong acute, slightly incurved, the ground 

 colour pale yellow, heavily marked with transverse spotted bars of dark choco- 

 late ; petals much broader than the sepals, ovate, acute, the ground a pale yellow 

 which is marked by large spots of rich deep chocolate ; lip transversely renif orm, 

 clawed at the base, the margin entire and undulated, white streaked with short 

 lines of reddish brown, and bearing a pair of large dark chocolate spots in the 

 centre ; disk fleshy, yellow, more or less streaked with reddish-brown. — Mexico. 

 Fia.—OrcJdd Album, ix. t. 406. 



O. ZEBRINUM. — See Oncidium zebbixttm. 



ONCIDIUM, Swartz. 



(_Tribe Vandeae, suitribe Oncidieae.) 



One of the older and also one of the larger genera of Orchids, some 

 two hundred and fifty or more species being known and described, all of 

 them South American. The species are all evergreen, and many of them 

 are very beautiful, their flowers being richly coloured and showy. They 

 make fine plants, both for exhibition and also for decoration. Some of 

 them are large growers, while others are more compact ; they have 

 generally short thick pseudobulbs, from which the leaves and flower 

 spikes proceed, but in this respect there is much dissimilarity among 

 therb, as there is in respect of their foliage, the majority having the 

 le9,ves flat, with the flowers in one group broad-lipped, and in another 

 small-lipped ; while some have the leaves terete, and others have them 

 distichous and equitant. For the most part the flowers have a broad 

 spreading lip contracted at the base, and a short column, bearing two 

 • petaloid wings or auricles. The species inhabit Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, 

 Mexico, New Grenada, Ecuador, and the "West Indies. 



Culture. — Some kinds succeed well on blocks of wood, but they are 

 generally best grown in pots or baskets in a compost of. peat and moss, 

 with good drainage. They require a liberal supply of heat and moisture 

 in the growing season, but afterwards only just enough water to keep 

 their leaves and pseudobulbs plumpi and firm. The Cattleya house is 

 most suited for the greater portion of them, but some kinds will do 



