Plate 245. 
ILEMANTHUS CINNABARINUS. 
This is one of the rarest, and, when well-grown, most gorgeous, of all bulbous plants, 
and as such is deserving of more extended cultivation in our gardens. It is a native of the 
Western Coast of the African Continent, and has on one or two occasions during the past 
year been exhibited by Messrs. Jas. Yeitch and Sons, of Chelsea. For the specimen from 
which our coloured figure was prepared we are indebted to the Hon. and Rev. J. Townshend 
Boscawen, of Lamorran, Probus, who has been most successful in its culture, the inflorescence 
sent being over 18 inches in circumference, and of a vivid cinnabar scarlet colour, tinted 
here and there with carmine; indeed, scarcely any illustration could well represent the 
colours, since they have the sparkle and lustre of a Guernsey lily, or some of the glowing 
Masdevallias of the M. Veitchii or M. ignea type. Mr. Boscawen had fertilised some of the 
flowers, and, as shown in our drawing, the seed vessels had begun to enlarge ere the spike 
was cut. There are several other remarkably beautiful species in this genus well worth 
more general culture, but none better than the plant we now figure, since, apart from its 
value as a somewhat stately habited stove plant, its star-shaped flowers and coral-tinted buds 
are admirably adapted for mixing with pearly white Eucharis, Lily of the Yalley, or other 
choice bouquet flowers. Its season of blooming varies under cultivation from March to 
November. 
Plate 246. 
ODONTOGLOSSTTM LONBESBOROUGHIANUM. 
This in every way handsome and distinct Mexican orchid has only quite recently 
flowered under cultivation for the first time in the Londesborough collection, and when ex¬ 
hibited at the Royal Horticultural Society’s meeting on Dec. 6th of last year was awarded a 
first class certificate as one of the best orchids of the then waning year. It was imported by 
Messrs. Backhouse and Son, of York, nearly ten years ago, and is said to grow naturally in 
company with another charming and similar habited plant, 0. citrosmum , the 0. pendulum of 
some authors, and which it resembles in the drooping flower, spike, and general contour of 
the flowers. Mr. Henning, who has the honour of being the first to bloom this graceful 
species, informs us that the plant has a singular habit of shedding its foliage ; so much so, 
that it might almost be called a deciduous plant, and that it grows well in a moderate 
temperature along with Lycastes, Zygopetalums, and Oypripedium insigne. The pale green, 
glossy, pseudo-bulbs are ovate and somewhat flattened, being produced along a creeping 
rhizome, and they are apparently one-leaved. The younger bulbs are sheathed at the base 
with the remains of the radical foliage. The plant as exhibited, and from which our plate 
was prepared, had a simple drooping spike, nearly a yard in length, bearing a dozen or more 
fully expanded flowers and prominent buds. The sepals and petals are cucullate, with crisped 
margins, the colour being greenish yellow, with concentric chocolate-brown bars. The reni- 
form lip is more than an inch in breadth, and of a clear yellow colour. The column is bent, and 
is devoid of auricles at the apex. The whole aspect, and especially the colour of the flower, is 
like that of some of the larger flowered Oncids, and in point of beauty it may well compare with 
Oncidium Roger si, or its allies, 0. tigrinum, 0. Marshallianum , or 0. splendidum. The plant is 
fully described in the Gardeners’ Chronicle , Dec. 1876, p. 772, our present figure being the 
first hitherto published. 
