Part 10

ODONTOGLOSSUM LUTEO-PURPUREUM.

YELLOW AND BROWN ODONTOGLOSSUM.

O. (EUODONTOGLOSSUM) pseudobulbis ovatis subcompressis diphyllis, foliis ensiformibus racemis multifloris nutantibus subæqualibus, bracteis ovatis acutis squamæformibus, pedicellis internodiis æquantibus, sepalis petalisque subæqualibus oblongo-lanceolatis acuminatis, labelli breviter unguiculati lateribus planis, limbo subpanduriformi antice lacero-serrulato, cristâ ad basin multidigitatâ, columnæ petalis triplo brevioris vix arcuatæ alis multifidis crinitis.

ODONTOGLOSSUM LUTEO-PURPUREUM, Lindl. Orch. Linden. n. 85; Fol. Orch. n. 7.

ODONTOGLOSSUM RADIATUM, Rchb. Gard. Chron. (1864, New Plants, n. 307.)

ODONTOGLOSSOM HYSTRIX, Bateman in Gard. Chron. 1864, New Plants, n. 282.

Habitat in N. GRANADA, prope Quindiu, alt. 8000 p., Linden; prope Santa Fé de Bogotá, Weir, Blunt.

DESCRIPTION.

PSEUDOBULBS about 3 or 4 inches long, somewhat compressed, ovale, 2-leaved. LEAVES sword-shaped, sharp-pointed, a foot or more long, about the same length as the many-flowered nodding RACEMES. BRACTS ovate, acute, scaly. PEDICELS equalling in length the average spaces between the FLOWERS. SEPALS and PETALS nearly equal, oblong-lanceolate (the petals sometimes unguiculate), acuminate, of a rich chocolate-brown inside, with edges and tips of a greenish-yellow. LIP with a very short claw, fiddle-shaped, at its side-edges plane, its centre-lobe minutely serrate and apiculate, with a multitude of finger-like processes (varying in different individuals) seated on the claw, and with their bristles all more or less inclining forwards. The upper portion of the lip is white, with a brown base, which again is banded with white beneath the series of bristles, which are of a rich golden-yellow. COLUMN only one-third the length of the petals, slightly arched, with lacerated, hairy wings nearly concealing the anther.

The vicissitudes which the name of this species has had to undergo within the last three years are full of instruction both to botanists and the public. It was first described by Lindley from wild specimens gathered by Linden in the neighbourhood of Quindiu. Mr. Weir was the next to meet with it, and he succeeded in sending to the Horticultural Society several living plants that had been obtained about 100 miles to the south of Bogotá. He also sent wild specimens in admirable condition which, not agreeing with Lindley's description, and being profusely furnished both at the base of the lip and in the apex of the column with long bristle-like appendages, led to my calling it O. hystrix (i. e. the Porcupine Odontoglossum). Messrs. Low also received the plant, through their collector Mr. Blunt, from the same locality as that where Weir met with it, and one of their plants produced flowers which--neither agreeing with Lindley's O. luteo-purpureum nor with my O. hystrix--received from Professor Reichenbach the name of O. radiatum. Subsequently many specimens flowered, no two of which were alike, though they all maintained a sort of distant family resemblance to O. luteo-purpureum of which--as the Professor himself was the first to point out--there can now be no doubt that they are all varieties.

The figure is taken from a plant that flowered in Mr. Day's collection in the autumn of 1865, the flowers of which were twice the size of those of a plant that flowered with me,--but still larger varieties have since appeared in the collections of Lord Egerton of Tatton and Mr. Wentworth Buller.

The species, being found at an elevation of 8000 feet or more, requires very "cool" treatment, and should be referred to what--for reasons stated under Plate XX.--I propose to call the "Peruvian house." In this it is very easily grown, and flowers freely.

The markings in the dried specimens being much deeper than in the fresh flowers, led Dr. Lindley to give it a name (O. luteo-purpureum) which is scarcely applicable to any variety that has yet appeared,--no purple tints having been observed.

DISSECTIONS.--1. Front view of lip and column; 2. Side view of ditto: magnified.

Plate XVIII

PLATE XVIII.

ODONTOGLOSSUM BICTONIENSE.

THE BICTON ODONTOGLOSSUM.

(VARIETY WITH LEAFY FLOWER-STEMS.)

O. (LEUCOGLOSSUM) pseudobulbis oblongis compressis 2-3-phyllis, foliis ensiformibus undulatis patentibus scapo racemoso duplo brevioribus, bracteis herbaceis lanceolatis acuminatis ovario duplo brevioribus, sepalis petalisque subæqualibus lineari-lanceolatis maculatis, labelli ungue bilamellato limbo cordato acuminato undulato, columnæ alis transverse oblongis integris.

CYRTOCHILUM BICTONIENSE, Bateman, Orch. Mex. et Gua. t. 6.

ZYGOPETALUM AFRICANUM, Bot. Mag. t. 3812.

Habitat in GUATEMALA, Skinner; circa 6-7000 ped. alt.

DESCRIPTION.

PSEUDOBULBS oblong, 3 to 6 inches long, somewhat compressed, bearing 2 or 3 LEAVES, which are sword-shaped, spread open, much shorter than the upright purple many-flowered SCAPE. The latter, in its normal state, is unbranched, and destitute of leaves, but in the variety represented in the Plate has numerous branches, and is leafy at the extremities. BRACTS herbaceous, lanceolate, acuminate, not half the length of the ovary. SEPALS and PETALS nearly equal, linear-lanceolate, light-green spotted, or banded with brown. LIP with a bilamellate claw and a heart-shaped, acuminate limb, waved at the margin. In most cases the lip is white or nearly so, in others it has more or less of a rosy or purplish tint. COLUMN-WINGS transversely oblong, entire.

The Plate represents a remarkable state of this now well-known plant, which I have observed only in the collection of Mr. Aspinall Turner, of Pendlebury House, near Manchester. In its normal or ordinary condition O. Bictoniense produces--in the winter months--simple, upright flower-stems, but in Mr. Turner's plant the stems are branched, and, what is still more extraordinary, are leafy at their extremities! Nor was this peculiarity confined to the growth of a single season, for it has already reappeared at least three years in succession! It produces a very singular effect, though it can hardly be said to add to the beauty of the plant.

O. Bictoniense, so called after Lady Rolle, of Bicton, in Devonshire, was the earliest species of this popular genus that ever reached England alive. It also formed a portion of the first box of Orchids that I ever received from Guatemala, whence they were sent to me in 1835 by my invaluable friend George Ure Skinner, now (1867) alas!--most suddenly and unexpectedly--numbered with the dead!

This is not the place for a memoir of that generous and enthusiastic spirit;--let it suffice to state that Mr. Skinner was on his way to Guatemala for a final visit, when he was attacked by yellow-fever early in February last on the Isthmus of Panama, and carried off after three days' illness! He was collecting plants on the Saturday before his death, and on the Wednesday he was a corpse! He was in his 63rd year, and had he but been permitted to return to England, would have crossed the Atlantic exactly forty times! He was the discoverer of O. grande and O. Uro-Skinneri, already figured in this work, and of at least fifty other Orchids, including the well-known Lycaste Skinneri perhaps the most useful and popular of its tribe.