Part 4

DISSECTIONS.--1. Lip, seen sideways; 2. Ditto, seen in front: both magnified.

Plate V

PLATE V.

ODONTOGLOSSUM PESCATOREI, Lindley.

M. PESCATORE'S ODONTOGLOSSUM.

O. (ISANTHIUM, Lindl.) pseudobulbis ovatis lævigatis nebulosis diphyllis, foliis loratis planis basi angustatis paniculâ amplâ erectâ multiflorâ 3-plo brevioribus, bracteis minutis, floribus membranaceis, sepalis ovato-oblongis apiculatis leviter undulatis, petalis conformibus latioribus, labello cuspidato subpandurato basi denticulato, cristæ lamellis lateralibus distantibus cartilagineis laceris lineis duabus divergentibus apice denticulatis interjectis, columnæ brevis alis brevibus cuneatis laceris. (Lindl. Fol. Orch., quibusdam mutatis.)

ODONTOGLOSSUM PESCATOREI, Lindley, in Paxton's Flower Garden, iii. t. 90; Pescatorea, t. 1; Warner's Select Orchidaceous Plants, t. 25.

ODONTOGLOSSUM NOBILE, Reichenbach fil. in Linnæa, 22, 850.

Habitat in NEW GRANADA, Province of Pamplona, at the height of from 5000 to 6000 feet, Funck and Schlim.

DESCRIPTION.

PSEUDOBULBS from 2 to 3 inches long, of an ovate form, glossy, and mottled with dark brown, usually bearing 2 lorate LEAVES, which are from 6 inches to a foot long, narrowed at the base and sharp at the end, much shorter than the tall upright branched PANICLE, which sometimes rises to the height of 3 feet, and bears from 6 to 60 membranous FLOWERS of a peculiarly delicate texture. BRACTS very small. SEPALS ovate-oblong, apiculate, slightly waved at the edges, an inch long, white with streaks of rose-colour. PETALS similar in form and texture to the sepals, but broader and more curled at the edges, of the purest white. LIP inclining to fiddle-shape, pointed, but with the point invisible when looked at in front; towards the base are two short upright tubercles that pass forward into plates diverging from each other, and toothed in front. On either side are two pseudo-wings, irregularly indented, and, like the plates, of a beautiful gold colour, streaked with red. The rest of the lip is white, with the exception of a few irregular blotches of crimson, the number and size and disposition of which vary considerably in different individuals. COLUMN short, with short wedge-shaped WINGS, a little indented at the edges.

This lovely plant was discovered in the year 1847 by MM. Funck and Schlim when on a botanical mission to New Granada, in the service of M. Linden. According to its discoverers, it is not unfrequently met with in the provinces of Pamplona and Ocaña, at an elevation above the sea-level of about 5000 feet, inhabiting the oak forests which--where the climate is mild--clothe the eastern slopes of the glorious Cordillera.

O. Pescatorei flowered with M. Linden for the first time in 1851, and attracted, as well it might, universal admiration. Nothing indeed, even in the beautiful family to which it belongs, can surpass the delicacy of its blossoms, with their charming mixture of rose and white, relieved by a few deep-crimson stains scattered irregularly over the lip. Its habit too is good, and its stately panicle of flowers well-proportioned to the size of the bulbs and leaves. It blooms abundantly in the spring months, and its blossoms continue at least six weeks in perfection. We need not wonder that a plant with such a rare combination of good qualities should have been selected by M. Linden to do honour to his patron the late M. Pescatore, after whom he named it, and in whose sumptuous work ('Pescatorea') it forms the first plate.

Although the species, owing to the difficulty of importing it alive, is still exceedingly rare in this country, it has already flowered in many of the principal collections, especially in those of Mr. Rucker, Mr. Basset, Mr. Day, and Mr. Dawson, of Meadow Bank near Edinburgh. With the last-named gentleman a panicle, with sixty flowers upon it, is now (April, 1864) in full beauty. Mr. Fitch's drawing was taken from an exquisite variety, of which Mr. Day is the fortunate possessor, and which he kindly placed at my disposal for the purpose of being figured in this Work. In the Plate the flower-spike is represented as panicled because such--as in the case of all the other varieties--is no doubt its normal state; as yet however racemes only have been produced.

The treatment recommended for other Odontoglossa (see under Plate I.) will suit O. Pescatorei, which is as easily managed as any of the genus.

DISSECTIONS.--1. Lip, seen sideways; 2. Lip, front view: magnified.

Plate VI

PLATE VI.

ODONTOGLOSSUM PENDULUM.

PENDENT-FLOWERED ODONTOGLOSSUM.

O. (TRYMENIUM) pseudobulbis subrotundis compressis lævibus diphyllis, foliis oblongo-ligulatis obtusis racemo pendulo multifloro paulo brevioribus, sepalis oblongis obtusis petalisque conformibus subæqualibus, labello unguiculato reniformi basi excavato marginibus callosis, clinandrii alis lateralibus subtruncatis dorsalique rotundato denticulatis.

ODONTOGLOSSUM CITROSMUM, Lindl. Bot. Reg. 1842, Misc. 68; 1843, t. 3; Fol. Orch. n. 59; Warner's Select Orchidaceous Plants, t. 28; Lemaire, Jard. Fl. t. 90.

CUITLAUZINA PENDULA, La Llace et Lexarza, Orch. Mex. 2; Reichenbach, fil., Bonplandia, iii. 15, 16.

Habitat in MEXICO, Lexarza, Karwinski, Barker.

DESCRIPTION.

PSEUDOBULBS clustered together, 2 to 4 inches long, compressed, ovate or almost round, smooth and glossy, 2-leaved. LEAVES 6 inches to a foot long, leathery, oblong-ligulate, obtuse, rather shorter than the raceme. RACEME issuing at an early stage from the young growth, pendulous, many-flowered, rarely branched, longer than the leaves. SEPALS and PETALS similar in form, pure white, or in some varieties of a faint blush or rose-colour, frequently sprinkled with minute red dots, oblong, obtuse, about an inch long. LIP unguiculate, kidney-shaped, channelled (with the solid edges turned up) along its base, on which there is a patch of yellow, with a few bright dots in the position where a crest (here entirely wanting) is usually placed; the colour of the disk of the lip varies in different specimens, being sometimes entirely white and sometimes tipped with faint rose-colour or deep-crimson. COLUMN with upper and lower wings (all of which are toothed), that on the back being rounded and the others truncated.

Early in the present century, two Spaniards--La Llave and Lexarza by name--settled at the Mexican town of Valladolid, in the fertile province of Mechoacan. They were both attached to botany, but the younger of the two, Lexarza, was so attracted by the beauty of the numerous Orchids of the district that to these he devoted himself with an ardour that would have done honour even to the Lindleys and Reichenbachs of our own day. As the result of his labours a little work--'Orchidianum Opusculum' he modestly styled it--presently made its appearance, wherein about fifty species, all at that time new to science, were described with remarkable accuracy and skill. Among the number there was a plant,--Cuitlauzina pendula he called it,--said to be of surpassing loveliness and to form an undoubtedly new genus the distinctive characters of which were minutely given. As time went on and the rage for Orchids developed itself in Europe, a keen desire was naturally felt by cultivators to add so fine a plant to their lists; but although many collectors visited Valladolid and laid hands upon nearly all the other desirable Orchids described by Lexarza, still nothing was heard of the Cuitlauzina, and on the cover of the latest number of Dr. Lindley's 'Folia Orchidacea' its name may be found in the list of genera "unknown to the author." About the same time I myself addressed a letter to the 'Gardeners' Chronicle' urging some adventurous traveller to take ship for New Spain, mainly with the object of instituting another search for the tantalizing plant that had hitherto eluded our grasp. Yet all this while Cuitlauzina pendula was amongst us, and indeed had been an established favourite for upwards of twenty years! But if so, it may well be asked, how came it to pass that it was never recognized? For a full reply to this very natural inquiry I must refer the reader to a most ingenious article in 'Bonplandia' (Jahrg. iii. No. 15, 16), by the younger Reichenbach, to whom all the credit is due of having solved a great botanical puzzle, and proved to demonstration that the Cuitlauzina pendula of Lexarza is none other than the Odontoglossum citrosmum of Lindley.

Under these circumstances, however undesirable the meddling with established names, I scarcely see how, in common justice to Lexarza, we can do otherwise than adopt his specific name of pendula, more especially as it happens that the plant to which he originally gave it remains to this day the only one out of nearly a hundred Odontoglossa that has flower-stems which are strictly pendulous.