The woodcut represents, for purposes of comparison, two nearly allied Odontoglossa, viz., 0. pulchellum
and O. Egertoniannm ; they both come from the same country (Guatemala) and closely resemble each other in
habit—only that the pseudobulbs of the latter have much the sharper edges—but the flowers are very different.
The spikes of 0. Egertoniannm (2) are a sort of Orchid-imitation of the racemes of the " Lily of the Valley,"
though unfortunately they have no perfume, while those of O. pulchellum (1) emit a delicious, almond-like odour,
not very unlike that of Gardenia radicans; they are, moreover, very chaste and beautiful, and are freely
produced during the winter months. Under these circumstances the species has long since become, what it well
deserved to be, an established popular favourite. Yet on its introduction some five-and-thirty years ago—I had
then just received the plant from my lamented friend Mr. G. U. Skinner—its first feeble attempts to flower left
such an impression of its insignificance upon my mind, that I churlishly refused it a place among the magnates
of its family in " The Orchidacefe of Mexico and Guatemala" on which I was then engaged ! But greater
discrimination in the treatment of our plants—in other words the recognition of the system of " Cool-Orchidgrowing"—
has led to a more just appreciation of its merits.