OCTO] 



Etje (Etoatfurji af 33atang. 



802 



OCTOMERIA. A genus of orchids dis- 

 tinguished from all others of the Plev.io- 

 thallidece by having eight pollen-masses, 

 •which, moreover, are all arranged side by 

 side in a single series, cohering together 

 in two sets of four each. It is a small 

 group, confined to the West Indies ;.nd 

 South America, and consists of little plants 

 with one-leaved terete-jointed stems, clo- 

 thed with fibrous sheaths and bearing ax- 

 illary fascicled or solitary flowers. [A. S.] 



OCTONI. Growing eight together. 



OCULUS. An eye, i.e. a leaf -bud. 



ODES. A termination in Greek com- 

 pounds — similar to ; as phyllodes, like a 

 leaf. 



ODIALS. The young roots of the Pal- 

 myra which are eaten in Ceylon. 



ODINA. A genus of Anacardiacece, 

 consisting of trees, natives of India and 

 tropical Africa, They have alternate pin- 

 nate leaves placed near the ends of the 

 branches, and small polygamous flowers 

 aggregated together in slender terminal 

 drooping racemes; calyx with four per- 

 sistent rounded lobes ; petals four, concave, 

 placed at the base of an eight-lobed disc, 

 into which also the eight stamens are in- 

 serted. In the male flowers the ovary is 

 sterile, divided into four compressed lobes ; 

 in the female it is free, sessile, one-celled 

 with a single ovule, and terminated by 

 four erect styles. The fruit is a drupe. 

 O.Wodier is a common tree in India, its 

 specific name being derived from the na- 

 tive appellation. The old wood is close- 

 grained and mahogany-coloured, and is 

 used for sheaths of swords ; the baric is 

 fibrous, and there exudes from it a gum 

 which is used as an application to sprains 

 and bruises. [M. T. M.'J 



ODONTARRHENA. A genus of Cruci- 

 ferce closely allied to Alyssum, from which 

 it has small claims to be separated on 

 account of the elliptical not suborbicular 

 pouch, and the one-seeded cells, the seeds 

 having the setaceous seed-stalks free from 

 the partition. It is found in Europe and 

 Middle Asia, has the habit of Alyssum, 

 and bears small yellow flowers. [J. T. S.] 



ODONTOGLOSSUM. An extensive genus 

 of orchids, found principally in the cool 

 mountain regions of Mexico, Peru, New 

 Grenada, and Venezuela. A considerable 

 number of its species have been intro- 

 duced to this country, and are much 

 prized by cultivators for their magnificent 

 flowers, which are remarkable both for 

 their size and the beauty of their colours. 

 Some species are epiphytal and others 

 terrestrial. Their flowers have spreading 

 free sepals (or the lateral ones rarely 

 united at the base), nearly equal-sized 

 petals, the lip with its base parallel with 

 the column and its limb deflexed and 

 generally crested in various ways, a long 

 column, narrow at the base and eared or 

 winged at the summit, and two pollen- 

 masses with a narrow caudicle attached to 



an oval gland. O. grande, a native of 

 Guatemala, has been found to live and 

 flower in the open air in this country 

 during the summer season. Its scape 

 bears from two to five large handsome 

 flowers, each some six or more inches 

 across, yellow, closely marked with cinna- 

 mon-brown bands and blotches. O. tigri- 

 num, an allied species, has equally large 

 yellowish flowers marked with chestnut- 

 purple tiger-like spots, except on its lip, 

 which is wholly yellow. Its flowers have 

 a powerful odour of violets, and are used 

 by the Mexicans for decorative purposes 

 under the name of Flor de Muertos. 0. 

 Pescatorei, so named after an eminent 



Odontoglossum grande. 



French orchid-grower, is found in New 

 Grenada. The flower panicle of this spe- 

 cies is between two and three feet high 

 and nearly as broad, and bears large but 

 delicate semi transparent flowers, the se- 

 pals of which have a faint blush-coloured 

 stain along their middle, and the lip a 

 yellow stain at its base and a deep crimson 

 crest. A plant somewhat like the last has 

 been dedicated to the Princess of Wales 

 under the name O. Alexandra. [A. S.] 



ODONTOLOMA. A South American 

 shrub, constituting a genus of Composite, 

 with the one- flowered heads of Monosis, but 

 differing in the pappus being reduced to a 

 small toothed ring. It is a native of the 

 Valley of Caraccas. The name is also ap- 

 plied to a small group of davallioid ferns 

 here referred to Acrophorzis. 



ODONTOPTERIS. Lygodium. 



CECEOCLADES. With the exception of 

 (E. metadata, all the orchids formerly 

 associated under this name are now re- 

 ferred to Angrmcum and Saccolabium, f rom 

 both of which the remaining species is 

 distinguished by its three-lobed lip. It is 

 a Brazilian pseudobulbous epiphyte, bear- 

 ing single fleshy spotted leaves, and having 



