102 



Note upon Oncidium Lanceanum, 



Messrs. Rollissons of Tooting. This plant, which I regard as 

 the most perfect instance of successful cultivation I have yet wit- 

 nessed among epiphytes, had leaves eighteen inches long, and 

 upwards of thirty flowers two inches and a quarter in expansion, 

 with all the markings of the sepals and petals of the richest choco- 

 late brown, and of the lip of the deepest violet. In fragrance there 

 was a resemblance to the spicy odour of that sweetest of all flowers 

 Aerides cornutum. 



In the Society's garden this plant is cultivated along with other 

 epiphytes in a dwarf hothouse facing the south ; it is planted in a 

 mixture of sandy peat, potsherds, and decayed wood ; and under 

 these circumstances it thrives very well. 



Mr. Lance has favoured me with the following account of the 

 discovery and subsequent management of this remarkable plant in 

 its native country. 



" The first specimen of this splendid Epiphyte I discovered, was 

 growing on the trunk of a large tamarind tree, in a noble avenue of 

 those trees close to the Government House in Surinam. I took it 

 home with me and planted it in a pot filled with rotten pieces of 

 wood and a little light earth ; but though it remained alive and 

 flowered once or twice, it did not thrive, but wasted away and be- 

 came less. I afterwards found a great number of the plants in 

 different parts of the colony ; they were generally attached to the 

 stems or branches of the Tamarind, the Sapodilla, or the Calabash 

 trees, appearing to prefer those to any other ; however, on being 

 tied to the branches of the Orange, the Soursop, the Mammee, and 

 even the Brugmansia arborea, it grew well upon them all and pro- 

 duced vigorous stems with upwards of twenty blossoms on each stem. 

 The scent is extremely fragrant, and is retained after the flower is 

 dried, only becoming fainter and more of a spicy flavour than when 

 fresh. The plant remains in full beauty ten or twelve days, a long 

 period in that climate, and I found that it always required a shady 



