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FEBRUARY, 1910. | THE ORCHID REVIEW. 37 
ORCHIDS OF SAO PAULO, BRAZIL. 
WE recently (vol. xvii., p. 298) gave some particulars of the Orchids of 
Sao Paulo, Brazil, by Dr. F. S. Lane, and now we have a very interesting 
letter from him, enclosing dried flowers of a yellow form of Oncidium 
sarcodes and a form of O. pubes. Dr. Lane remarks :— 
It is almost impossible to distinguish between O. sarcodes and O. pubes 
and the intermediate types by the pseudobulbs. They all grow together, and 
very often we find O. barbatum and others mixed with them. I have 
occasionally found them near the beach, but the best localities I know of 
are low hills near the sea shore, although I have found O. sarcodes as high 
as 850 metres, and 20 leagues from the coast. 
You speak in your letter to Mr. Lupton of a possible natural hybrid 
between C. Leopoldi and C. bicolor. This seems to me impossible. I 
cannot give you the extreme northern limit of C. Leopoldi, but do not think 
it is found very much north of Santos, while the southern limit is nearly to 
Uruguay. I know of C. Leopoldi having been found at the ‘‘ Lagoa dos 
Latos,’’ not more than 100 miles from the extreme southern limit of Brazil, 
while C. bicolor begins to be found at S. Jose dos Campos, near the northern 
limit of the State, and on north through the State of Rio de Janeiro. 
C. Leopoldi rarely occurs more than 100 metres above sea level, and C. 
bicolor begins at about 700 metres. The finest bicolors come from 
Bannanal, near the northern boundary of this State, near the State of Rio. 
How far inland they go I could not say, for there are still immense tracts of 
virgin forest practically unexplored by the Orchid hunter. I have in my 
possession a natural hybrid between C. bicolor and C. Harrisoniana, and 
also one between C. velutina and C. Harrisoniana, both of which I found in 
the same district. The latter was in a small clump of low bush surrounded 
by C. velutina, and with several C. Harrisoniana plants, and was in full 
flower. The former I took for a short C. bicolor. The plant was on a low 
crooked tree, with no other plants nearer than a kilometre, and the nearest 
bicolor half a league away. The tree was absolutely isolated and the plant 
exposed to the full force of the sun. 
I have had for the last eight or nine years an average collection of six 
to eight thousand plants cultivated in the open air, and have on the whole 
been very successful. I try to find out the natural conditions under which 
the plants are found, and when possible copy them. Of course this is not 
always possible. The finest C. intermedia I have ever seen are in a small 
‘swamp that does not exceed twenty acres in extent. It lies at sea level 
between two low hills of a small cape jutting out into the ocean, 
‘with the sand bars at each end, just high enough to prevent the sea 
sweeping through at high tide. One has to wade through mud and water at 
