THE ONCIDIUM. 
47 
No tree in the lowlands is so great a nursery of 
OrchidecB as the Calabash. On one of these I found 
large masses of Brasavola nodosa, and on another a 
species of noble size. Great thick ovate leaves a 
foot and a half long, and four or five inches wide, 
without bulbs, formed immense bunches on several 
of the principal branches and their forks, from the 
axillae of which sprang pendant flower-spikes eight 
feet or more in length, bearing, however, no flowers, 
but elliptical seed-capsules three inches in length. 
One of the tufts was throwing up a new blossom- 
shoot ; and this I left untouched, in order to ascer- 
tain the species. I suspected it to be Oncidium Car-- 
thaginense, and this it afterwards proved to be. It 
came into full blossom about three months after- 
wards, in the beginning of April; at which time, 
masses of the same species growing on the trees at 
intervals all along the road between Bluefields and 
Savanna-le-Mar, burst simultaneously into flower. 
In a few weeks, however, the blossom had quite dis- 
appeared ; and nothing was to be seen on any spe- 
cimen but one or two maturing seed-vessels, till the 
following year. Notwithstanding its size, the blos- 
som is not conspicuous for beauty ; the loose, panicled 
character of the raceme, and the hue of the flowers 
(yellow, studded all over with red dots) detract from 
its effect. This species is essentially a lowland 
plant ; for though it is found at a considerable eleva- 
tion on the mountain-slopes, it is most abundant 
near the shore ; it bears the open sun better than 
most Orchidece. 
On another Calabash, hanging over Bluefields 
