Octomeria
(from okto, eight, and meris, a part; in allusion to the pollen masses). SYN. Aspegrenia. ORD. Orchideae. A genus of greenhouse, epiphytal Orchids. Nearly a score species have been described, although, probably, not more than three have been introduced; they are natives of Brazil, Guiana, and the West Indies. Flowers whitish or yellowish, inconspicuous, in dense, sessile clusters; anther-bed rotundate, rostellum short; pollinia eight. Leaves oblong, linear, or sub-terete. Stem developed. These curious little Pleurothallis-like epiphytes are frequently imported along with Bromeliads, about the bases of which they grow on the trunks of large trees. For their cultivation they require greenhouse treatment. They thrive in pots of peat and sphagnum, and require abundance of water at all times.
O. graminifolia (Grass-leaved). fl. pale yellow, with two red spots; perigonal divisions ovate-lanceolate, interior little shorter; lip cuneate-oblong, blunt, or minutely denticulate at the summit, obliquely two-crested, and with two short lateral lobes at the middle. May. l. lanceolate-linear. h. 6in. West Indies, 1793. (B. M. 2764.)
O. Saundersiana (Saunders'). fl. pale yellow, with three purple stripes on the sepals and petals; lip ochre-coloured; disk and calli mauve, streaked in front, and numerously dotted. Winter. l. thick, terete, subulate. Brazil, 1880.
O. serratifolia (serrate-leaved). A synonym of Octadesmia montana.
O. tricolor (three-coloured). fl. white, small. l. cuneate-oblong, tessellated with purple beneath. Brazil, 1872.