Tab. 6278. 
OXCIDITJM CHEIROPHORUM. 
Native of New Grenada . 
Nat Ord. Orchide^e. — Tribe Yande^e. 
Genus Oncidium, Swartz. (.. Lindl . Fol. Orchid ., Oncidium.) 
Oncidium (Paucitnberculata) cheirophorum ; pseudobulbis parvis ellipsoideisv. orbi- 
culatis compressis ancipitibus, foliis lineari-lanceolatis subacutis carinatis ; 
scapo filiformi foliis longiore, panicula angnsta multi- densiflora subcylin- 
dracea nutante, floribus inter minoribus flavis nitentibus, sepalis petalisque 
parvis subsimilibus obovato-rotundatis concavis, sepalo supremo galeato, 
labello ampliato 3-lobolobis lateralibus oblongis rofundatisve patenti-recurvis, 
intermedio orbiculato concavo emarginato, disco callo tricruri ornato, columna 
brevi alis magnis dolabriformibus basi in processum cornutum producta, 
rostello elongato. 
0. cheirophorum, Reichb.f. in Bot. Zeit. vol. x, 1852, p. 695, 697 ; Xen. Orchid. 
vol. 1, p. 191, t. 69; Walp. Ann. vi. 776, et in Oard. Ghron. 1871, p. 168; 
Lindl. Fol. Orchid., Oncidium, p. 124. 
A charming, very sweet-scented little species, allied to the 
O.stramineum (Tab. 6254), but a far more elegant plant, with 
narrow leaves, an almost filiform scape, and brighter-coloured 
sparkling flowers. It was discovered by Warscewicz on the 
volcano of Chiriqui, at an elevation of 8000 feet, in New 
Grenada (near Panama) ; flowering in December, with the 
thermometer some few degrees above freezing point. It has 
been long cultivated on the continent, and first of all at 
Hamburgh, a town once so famous for the Orchid collections 
of its high office-bearer, as of Senator Janisch, and Consul 
Schiller ; and was soon thereafter introduced into England. 
It was flowered at Kew in December, 1872, from plants 
reared by Messrs. Yeitch the previous year. 
Descr. A small species. Pseudobulbs about an inch long, orbi- 
cular or ellipsoid, much flattened, with sharp margins, smooth, 
finely wrinkled in age. Leaves three to six inches long, linear- 
lanceolate, acute, green, hardly narrowed into a petiole. Scape 
longer or shorter than the leaves, very slender, bearing an 
elongate, drooping, rather dense-flowered, contracted, sub- 
cylindric, very many-flowered panicle ; branches short, slender, 
