PSEUDOBULBS _from 3 to 5 inches long, ovate, subcompressed, furrowed,
2-leaved_. LEAVES _sword-shaped, obtuse, or obtusely-acute, sometimes
slightly oblique at their extremities, a foot or more long, shorter than
the many-flowered flower-stems_. FLOWER-STEMS _loosely branched, 2 to 3
feet long, rather drooping, bearing from 20 to (sometimes) 100_ FLOWERS.
BRACTS _from half an inch to an inch long, sharp-pointed, clipping
tightly hold of the stem_. SEPALS _and_ PETALS _nearly equal,
oblong-linear, acute, plane at the edges, usually about an inch long,
light green, transversely banded with brown_. LIP _with a fiddle-shaped,
apiculate limb doubled back on its unguis or claw, white, changing into
purple at its base, where it is sometimes very obscurely bidentate_.
WINGS _of_ COLUMN _crisp at the edges, plane at the base_.
This is not one of the most attractive species, but its stately appearance,
the profuseness with which its flowers are produced and their pleasant
aroma, will secure it a place in most collections. It is common in
Guatemala, where Mr. Skinner originally discovered it, and it probably
extends as far as Mexico, where the nearly allied species (_O.
Reichenheimii_), figured in the preceding Plate, is found. As it is only
met with at a great elevation, it must be treated as a very "cool" Orchid,
under which _régime_ it will flower abundantly in the spring months. The
chief danger to be guarded against is that of its exhausting itself--like
many species of _Phalænopsis_--by over-much flowering, and to prevent which
it is of course only necessary to break off some of the scapes.
DISSECTIONS.--1. Lip, seen in front; 2. Lip and column, seen sideways:
_magnified_.
Plate XVII
[Illustration: Odontoglossum atropurpureum.]
PLATE XVII.
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.
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