DECEMBER, I9Q1I.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 357 
In conclusion, we would add that nowhere has it been our good fortune 
to see such an endless variety of Orchids, whilst the ease with which 
seedlings of many genera are raised, testifies to the excellent culture they 
receive at the hands of Mr. Gott and his assistants. 
C. ALwyn HArRIson. 
OCTOMERIA CRASSIFOLIA. 
At the R.H.S. meeting held on October 24th last, a large specimen 
Octomeria, covered with flowers, was exhibited from the collection of Sir 
Trevor Lawrence, Bart., Burford, Dorking, which also appeared before the 
Scientific Committee, as there was a doubt about its correct name (see 
PP- 340, 375. We believe it to be the Brazilian Octomeria crassifolia, 
described by Lindley in 1836 (Hook. Comp. Bot. Mag., ii. p. 354), from a 
plant which flowered with Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney, and which they 
had obtained from Rio de Janeiro. The flowers were described as pale 
yellow, with a very small double purple spot on the lip. A dried specimen 
and coloured drawing of the lip are preserved in the Lindley Herbarium. 
We also believe it to be the plant figured by Bauer as Octomeria 
gtaminifolia (Ill. Orch. Pl., Gen. t. 4, fig. A.) from a drawing made by 
Bauer in 1821, for the details of the flower agree admirably. It is not, 
however, the original O. graminifolia, R. Br. (Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2, v. 
p. 211). This species was based upon Dendrobium graminifolium, Willd. 
(Sp. Pl., iv. p. 135), and that again on Epidendrum graminifolium, L. 
(Sp. Pl. ed. 2, p. 1353), under which Linnzus expressly cites Heleborine 
graminea repens biflora, Plum. Pl. Amer., ii. p. 171, t. 176, fig. 1. 
©. eraminifolia was afterwards correctly depicted in the Botanical 
Magazine (t. 2764). It is a West Indian species, with markedly climbing 
habit. This plant was rather a puzzle to Lindley, for when describing 
O. Baueri (Gen. and Sp. Orch., p. 10) he remarked: ‘‘ This species and the 
foregoing (O. graminifolia| so closely resemble each other in habit, foliage 
and inflorescence that it is in vain to seek to which of them the specific 
name graminifolia may with the greatest justice beapplied. . . . I have 
therefore retained the name for the species figured by Dr. Hooker.”’ This 
is, fortunately, the correct plant, and identical with the one originally 
figured by Plumier. He also citesa picture made by Bauer at Kew in March, 
1817, probably the one afterwards published (Bawer Ill. Orch. Pl., Gen. 
t. 4, fig. B.) This species has light yellow flowers, without a purple blotch 
on the lip, and in structure the flower is more like O. crassifolia than is 
O. graminifolia, as is apparent on comparing the three figures cited. The 
habit of O. crassifolia and O. Baueri is not shown in Bauer’s figure, but 
both are larger plants, without a climbing stem, and with numerous 
flowers in a fascicle. RR: A: Roarer. 
