A Monograph of Odontoglossum. J. Bateman

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      This is a robust and stately plant, nearly allied to O. Bictoniense to which at one time Dr. Lindley was disposed to refer it, but far larger and handsomer in all its parts. Its broad pseudobulbs which become covered in their second year with a multitude of small reddish dots, its wide sepals and petals, the spotting of its lip, and its general resemblance to Zygopetalum Mackaii will, however, sufficiently distinguish it. Being found at a higher elevation than O. Bictoniense, it requires to be kept more cool, and as it affects dark and wet banks in its native wilds, it is better to place it in a north house where it can be more readily protected from the sun. Treated in this way it grows luxuriantly and flowers abundantly at Knypersley, whence the specimen figured in the Plate was derived. Its flowering season seems to vary, for while with me it is now (May) coming into bloom, about London November is the more usual month.

      O. Uro-Skinneri was the latest discovery of my indefatigable friend Mr. Skinner (after whom it was named by Dr. Lindley), and who, though now settled in England, is as much devoted to his favourite tribe as when, while resident in Guatemala, he was wont to delight the Orchidists of Europe by the multitude of new and beautiful plants that he was constantly dispatching across the main.

      Dissection. – 1. Side view of lip and column: magnified.

      Plate III.

      ODONTOGLOSSUM PHALÆNOPSIS, Rchb. fil

      O. (Leucoglossum, Lindl.) pseudobulbis ovatis obtuse ancipitibus 1-2-phyllis, foliis linearibus acutissimis racemis bi- vel trifloris spithamæis longioribus, sepalis oblongo-ligulatis acutis, petalis latioribus obovatis obtusis; labelli ampli pandurati emarginati bilamelligeri disco velutino, columnæ alis abbreviatis membranaceis.

      Odontoglossum phalænopsis, Rchb. fil. in Seemann Bonplandia, ii. 278; Pescatorea, Linden et Rchb. fil. ii. 44.

      Miltonia Pulchella, Hort.

      Habitat in N. Granada, prope Aspasica, alt. 5-6000 ft., Schlim.

      This most charming Odontoglossum was discovered in the year 1850 by M. Schlim at that time engaged in exploring the higher regions of New Granada in the service of M. Linden to whose well-known horticultural establishment at Brussels he had the honour of introducing it. The species was seen in flower for the first time in the year 1856 when it appeared at some Horticultural Exhibitions both on the Continent and in London and, as may readily be conceived, attracted universal admiration. Since that time its lovely blossoms have been rarely produced, owing no doubt to its cultivation having been imperfectly understood. It has however, I believe, bloomed occasionally in the collection of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and more recently in that of E. M‘Morland, Esq., of Haverstock Hill, with whom it thrives amazingly, and to whose kindness I am indebted for the opportunity of figuring it. In its native country it is found in a mild climate growing on the ground, or upon rocks in moist and shady situations, and by simply imitating these conditions Mr. M‘Morland cultivates it with the most perfect success. His plants are kept in pots, with living moss on the surface, and their base resting in pans of water the evaporation from which cannot fail to be highly beneficial. The temperature of the house in which they are grown is that of an ordinary greenhouse, but the air is always humid, and water is freely given because, in consequence of the open potting, it can pass as freely away. The plants seem to grow and flower almost all the year round, though their proper and principal flowering-season is in May and June.

      O. phalænopsis is entirely distinct from any species of the genus yet in cultivation, but it is allied to a still finer plant detected by Warszewicz in Costa Rica, and called in honour of its discoverer O. Warszewiczii by Professor Reichenbach.

      Dissections. – 1. Lip. seen sideways; and 2. Front view of lip: both magnified.

      Plate IV.

      ODONTOGLOSSUM INSLEAYI, Lindl

      O. (Euodontoglossum, Lindl.) pseudobulbis ovatis compressis diphyllis, foliis coriaceis oblongo-ensiformibus subundulatis apice recurvis racemo 5-10-floro erecto rigido brevioribus, sepalis petalisque oblongis subæqualibus undulatis infimis connatis, labello angusto obovato retuso basi auriculato, disci cristâ apice bilobâ dilatatâ utrinque in medio dente refracto auctâ, columnæ alis incurvis cirrhatis. (Lindl. Fol. Orch.)

      Oncidium Insleayi, Barker in Bot. Reg. 1840, Misc. 21; Bateman, Orchid. Mex. et Guat. t. 21; Van Houtte, Flore des Serres, 1848, t. 62.

      Habitat in Mexico, Barker; Oaxaca, Loddiges; 5-6000 ft.

      This Odontoglossum was originally introduced from Mexico by the late Mr. Barker, of Birmingham, after whose gardener it was named by Dr. Lindley. It flowered with Mr. Barker somewhere about the year 1840, when a figure was prepared for the 'Orchidaceæ of Mexico and Guatemala,' but I had not then the opportunity of examining the plant, nor indeed did I ever actually see it in flower until the autumn of last year (1863) when I happened to meet with the specimen from which the illustration is derived, growing and blooming vigorously in the collection of Dr. Cauty, of Liverpool. The species had, in fact, virtually disappeared from collections during an interregnum of twenty years, and its reappearance is entirely due to the adoption of the rational system of cool treatment now happily prevailing, and under which it may be cultivated with the greatest ease.

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