AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 3 89 



Oncidium. 



O. crispum {Lodd.). — An old favourite, and still one of the very 

 best garden Oncidiums. It is easy to manage, blossoms freely, and 

 is abundant enough to be always cheap. The pseudo-bulbs spring 

 from a stout, creeping rhizome, and are broadly ovate, flattened, 

 deeply furrowed, rough, and usually dark brown in colour. The 

 leaves are in pairs, and are about gin. long by liin broad, 

 leathery, deep olive-green. Flower-spike stout, arched, branched, 

 bearing from twenty to fifty flowers, each from i-Jrin. to 3in. 

 across, and coloured deep shining brown, with a few yellow and 

 reddish marks on the lower parts of the segments ; sepals and petals 

 large, oblong, narrow at the base, rounded at the apex, the 

 margin crisped and wavy ; lip almost circular, stalked, with two 

 horn-shaped side lobes, and a three-lobed, warted, yellow crest ; 

 column yellow, with red wings. This plant may be grown in a 

 basket in the intermediate-house. It requires very little material 

 about its roots. When growing, it enjoys an abundance of 

 moisture, with plenty of light ; during winter it requires less 

 water, but should never be dried. If leaf-soil is used in place 

 of peat, it should be pressed firmly about the roots, and the 

 surface should be covered with living sphagnum. The whole 

 of the Brazilian Oncidiums do well in leaf-soil. O. crispum 

 blossoms at various seasons ; the flowers last about a month. 

 Brazil, &c., about 1830. (B. M., t. 3499.) 



Var. graiidiJIo?-iiin has very large flowers, the segments being 

 edged with yellow. 



O. CrcEsus {Rchb. /.). — A small but pretty species, of tufted 

 habit, and bearing flowers of pansy-like nature. By some 

 authorities it is regarded as a variety of O. hvigipes. It has 

 narrow, sulcate pseudo-bulbs, lin. long, with a distinct neck, 

 supporting a pair of light green, strap-shaped leaves 4in. 

 long. The flower-spike is semi-erect, shorter than the 

 leaves, and bears from three to six flowers, each iMn. across. 

 Sepals and petals oblong, spreading, reddish-brown, the margins 

 recurved ; lip three-lobed, the two lateral lobes being almost 

 round, and the middle and larger one reniform, |in. across, 

 rich golden-yellow, with a large, eye-like blotch of black-purple 

 about the prominent, toothed crest. This is a delightful little 

 plant when well managed. When grown at the warm end of 

 the Odontoglossum-house, or in the intermediate-house, and 

 suspended near the roof-glass, it usually thrives ; it should be 

 planted in shallow pans or teak basket.s, in a mixture of good 

 peat and sphagnum, and it likes plenty of water and fresh air 

 in summer. Leaf-soil may also be used with advantage as a 

 potting compost for this species. The blossoms are produced 



