136 



ONCIDIUM LANCEANUM. 



. . Of all the species of this handsome genus which have hitherto come under our 

 observation, this is unquestionably the most attractive : for' if in its habit it be 

 perhaps less graceful than some others, it far excels them in beauty and richness 

 of colour, while at the same time it exhales the most delicious fragrance. Its 

 scent has been compared by Dr. Lindley " to the spicy odour of that sweetest of 

 all flowers Aerides odoratum" of which we gave a figure and description in our 

 last number ; but in our opinion it resembles much more nearly the attar of 

 roses. 



For the specimen from which our drawing was made, we have again to make 

 our acknowledgments to the Right Hon. the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, 

 from whose fine collection at Enville it was forwarded to us by his Lordship's 

 Gardener, Mr. John Beddard, whose skill in the management of orchidaceous 

 Epiphytes is well known among amateurs and cultivators of this interesting tribe. 



This remarkable plant was first introduced to this country by J ohn Henry 

 Lance, Esq. from Surinam, where he had resided for many years. It was originally 

 published by Dr. Lindley in the Horticultural Transactions, from which work we 

 extract Mr. Lance's account of its first discovery : — " The first specimen of this 

 splendid Epiphyte I discovered," says Mr. Lance, " 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 became less. I after- 

 wards 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 others ; however, on being 

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

 Brugmansia arbor ea, it grew well upon them all, and produced 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 

 situation, and a living stem to grow upon, without which it would not produce its 

 flowers in the highest perfection." 



The cultivation of these curious Epiphytes is, however, so much better under- 

 stood than formerly, that they are now frequently grown in our stoves in as great 

 perfection as when attached to living stems or trunks in their native forests. The 

 present species should be potted in rough sandy peat, the pots being previously 

 three parts filled with drainers. It also succeeds admirably suspended in a basket 

 filled with moss (of which some of the species of Hypnum are the best), as prac- 

 tised at Mr. Barker's. It may be increased by dividing with a sharp knife, 

 allowing a month or two to elapse before the divided portion is removed. 



Fig. 1, pollen-masses ; 2, anther. 



