  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. Dissections.—1. Lip and column, seen sideways; 2. Ditto ditto, seen in front: magnified. Plate XIX Odontoglossum AlexandrÆ. (<i>Weirs variety</i>)
Odontoglossum AlexandrÆ. (Weirs variety) |
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