84 : THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
WHO DISCOVERED ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM ? 
Ir has recently been stated that the late M. J. Linden was the joint 
discoverer with Hartweg of our popular Odontoglossum crispum, but 
in your Obituary notice of the former at page 43, you make no mention 
of the circumstance, and as it does not accord with the early records 
it would be interesting to know what are the real facts of the case. 
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We knew of the story, which was only omitted because after consider- 
able trouble we failed to verify it. So far as we have been been able to 
ascertain, it originated in 1885, in the Lindenia (vol. I, page 102), as 
follows :—‘ L’Odontoglossum crispum fut découvert in 1842, simultanément 
par Hartweg et J. Linden dans la Nouvelle Grenade, pres des villages de 
Pacho et de Zipaquira dans la province de Bogota. Ces deux voyageurs 
se trouverant dans ces parages en méme temps,” &c. This plant, however, 
is not included in the Orchidacee Lindeniane, nor is it mentioned by M. 
Linden in the account of his travels, written by himself, and published 
in 1846 (Ann. de Soc. Roy. d’Agr. et de Bot. de Gand, ii, pp. 205-220, 259-272), 
together with a table showing the total number of species of plants collected, 
arranged under ten different geographical headings. This table gives 
the total number of Orchids collected as 183, of which seven were collected 
at Bogota. And their names may be ascertained from the Orchidacee 
Lindentana, as follows:—‘ Pleurothallis bogotensis, P. chloroleuca, Restrepia 
maculata, Masdevallia coriacea, M. cucullata, Epidendrum torquatum, and 
Schomburgkia undulata.” Neither is there any evidence, either in the 
account just mentioned or in that written by Hartweg, respecting his 
own travels, that the travellers met. The latter states that he arrived 
at Bogota on January 1st, 1843, after a fatiguing journey, and after 
leaving there he goes on to say:—‘‘On my journey to Zypaquira, and 
from thence to Pacho, I observed Odontoglossum crispum, having a spike 
two and a half feet in length, and producing from twenty to twenty-seven 
large white flowers, with a pinkish hue on the outside of the sepals, and 
orange spots on the lip.’’. (Hartweg in Trans. Hort. Soc., ser. 2, iii, p- 160). 
Specimens were secured for drying, and from the list of species introduced 
(id., p. 162), we gather that living plants also were sent home, though 
in the absence of any later information, we may infer that they died 
without flowering. How much of fact there is in the story of the joint 
discovery, or the joint excursion, in 1841, as it has recently been put, may 
be inferred from the further record that four days after Hartweg arrived 
at Bogota (January 5th, 1843), Linden was encamped far away on the 
majestic peak of Tolima (on the Central Cordillera), at an altitude of 
15,000 feet. That Linden himself made no claim to be the discoverer 
