ODONTOGLOSSUM BICTONIENSE.
T H E B I C T O N O D O N T O G L O S S U M.
(VABIETY WITH LEAFY FLOWEB-STEMS.)
0 . (LKt'coGLOssusi) pseudobulbis oblongis compressis 2-3-phyllis, foliis ensiformibus undulatis
patentibus scapo raceraoso duplo brevioribus, bracteis hcrbaceis lanceolatis acuminatis
ovario duplo brevioribus, sepalis petalisque subtequalibus lincari-lanceolatis maeulatis,
labelli ungue bilamellato limbo cordato acuminata uudulato, columnse alis transverse
oblongis integris.
CnrrocHiLiiM BICTOSIESSS, Bateuum, Orch. Me.r. el Gua. I. 0.
ZNIJL'-'IF.M M AHUCANOH, Hot. .1lay. 1. 3812.
Habitat in GUATEMALA, Skinner; circa 6-7000 peel, alt
DESCRIPTION.
PSEUDOBULBS obhng, 3 to 6 inokee long, eomahal comprmcl, bearing 3 or 3 Liivis, mlich are ..orf-SIOPRF, s,mi
open, mil shorter than lie upright purple ,na,,,-Jlouered SCJIB. The laller, in He normal elate, ie nabra,iched, and
destitute o/leaves, Ml in He variety represented in the Plate has numerous branches, ml leafg at He extremities.
iBicrs herbuceoue, lanceolate, iiimlinO, not half the length of the ovary. Sir.us and Knua ueurl) equal, linearlanceolate,
ligbl-grecn ,polled, or lauded m* broirn. LIP „ith a bil.melUe elm and a hear!-,hoped, acuminate
limb, icaved at the margin. In moat cases the lip is lehite or nearly so, in others it has more or less of a rosy or
purplish lint. COLUMN-WISGS tranevereelg oblong, entire.
The Plate repents a rem.rk.Me state of this no. well-known plant, wl.ieh I have ob.ereed only in tie collection
of Mr. Aspinsll Turner, of Pendlebury House, near Mim.1 U normal or ordinary condition 0. Bietouieuse
produees-io the rate, months-simple, upright fiower-stems, hut in Mr. Tomer's pknt th. stem, are branched, and,
what is still mm tmm*m;, m leaf, nt tl.eir extremities 1 N"or was this peculiarity confined le the growth of .
single season, for it ha. already reappeared at least three year, in suceesion! It produce a very singula, effect, though
it can hardly he said to add to the beauty of the plant.
0. Bicto,dense, so called aftec lady Mis, of Bicton, in Devonshire, wss tl.e earliest speoies of this popular genus
that ever reached Euglaad olive. It also formed a portion of the fitst box of Orebld. that I ever received torn
Guatemala, whence the, were sent to m. in 1835 b, ,«y invaluable friend G.orge lire Slinner, now (18S7) A l -
most suddenly and unexpectedly—numbered with the dead!
This is not the place for a memoir of that generous and cnthustatic spirit —let it suffice to state that Mr. Skinner
was on hi. way to Gn.ten.al. for , final vi.it, when he w» attacked by ye]low-fevs, eacly in P.bro.ty 1... on the
Isthmus of Panama, and cried olf after three days' illne..! He wo. collecting plant, on the Saturday before bis
dentli and on the Wednesday he ™ . corpse 1 He was in his 63rd ye.,, and had he but been permitted to return to
England, would have orced the Atlantic ex.ctly forty times! He wa. the di.eoverer of 0. grande and 0. Uro-
Sl-iniicri, already figured in tin. work, .nd of at least fifty other Orchids, including the well-known Lijcaele Shi,men
perhaps the most useful and popular of its tribe.