Fig. 361.—Floral Envelope.

Fig. 362.—Tubers and Rootlets.

In some other indigenous species—Orchis latifolia, for instance—the

roots, instead of being ovoid, are palmate or hand-shaped. Both kinds of roots are accompanied by the ordinary cylindrical root-fibres, covered with hairs, whose principal function is absorption. The leaves of the Orchis maculata are sheathed and arranged spirally ypon the stem; their lanceolated limbs are generally sprinkled with black spots. This study of an orchid, so frequently met with, will give a general idea of them. But to realise the appearance presented by the plants of this remarkable order, they must be seen or imagined as they appear in the tropical forests. Many of the tropical orchids are Epiphytes, but not always parasites—that 1s, they grow in the clefts of branches, and in the angles of roots, either erect or gracefully suspended from the branches, but without drawing their nourishment from them. Their flowers are in ears, branches, or tufts, of different sizes, and their-colours are often most rich and varied, frequently yielding a sweet perfume. They always present an original and somewhat fantastic appearance; now resembling a fly, now a spider, others a butterfly, and some a man suspended by the head. The diversity in the size and appearance of their flowers, and their strange beauty, cause this group of plants to be one of the most cherished ornaments of our hothouses. The Arreruuse” are among the least interesting of orchids. Dr. Lindley once thought Vanilla of sufficient importance to constitute a sub-order, which he has since withdrawn. The Vanillaceze are climbing orchids, but not Epiphytes;the leaves are with the stem, which at the base, and articulated fleshy., Subcordate 18 Square, and climbs to the height of 20 or 80 feet. The flowers the with the ovarium; articulated the perianthe are fleshy, Sepals and petals nearly equal, and free at the base, the labellum ‘8 entire and united with the column; the anthers terminal two, bilobed and granulose. the pollen-masses; and opercular; , re are eight species, two of them found in Asia and six in America. The fruits of most of them are aromatic, and there is _ Still some doubt which of these species yield the Vanilla of com- _ ‘Mmeree. It is supposed to be the product of several species; said to and V. planifortia,: Probably the fruit of V. aromatica oil and benzoic acid as to of essentialaS an 80 large a proportion “Moxicate the labourers who gather it.

The Neorrre# are chiefly indigenous to this country, usually fibrous rooted, rarely a fleshy bulb, anthers distinct from the column, often parallel to the stigma, pollen-grains loosely coherent, nearly powdery. The species are generally small, being 6 to 15 inches high in the Bird’s Nest Neottia, flowers and stem palg yellowssh brown, on an oblong spike; column notched with two short beaks, and lobes of the lip divergent; an inhabitant of chalky, shady places. Lady’s tresses, Spiranthes, bear small white flowers on 4 one-sided spike. Found in bogs in the New Forest.

The Cypripepie# are singularly beautiful in their foliage. The form of the flowers is curious, being slipper-shaped; hence their name of Lady’s Slipper, of which we have one native species, found in the woods of the North of England, but very rare: The sepals are ribbed, of a rich dark-brown colour, the two — lower ones united. Lip turned, yellow, and marbled, about an inch long, reticulated with veins, and spotted internally.

The exotic species are also dwarf species, but compact and ever-: green, the leaves of many of them being beautifully spotted. ’ RSae\ceakaeon C. barbatum is a pretty species, with beautifully spotted foliage = the colour of its solitary flowers brownish purple and white,” C. barbatum grandiflorum the foliage is finely variegated, od. oeadscSnap the flowers considerably larger than the preceding. C. biflora 8 an Indian species, with variegated foliage, four inches high. The: | blossoms produced on a spike ten inches long, the top petal beng 9: beautiful white, and the other part.of the flower a purplish-brown. HonewF

It will have been observed from the preceding remarks Oo besides the physiological differences in accordance with be of Z| botanists have arranged them, there is a distinct difference e habit; that a portion of them root in the soil and draw they — support from the earth, while others attach themselves to —: 7 stones, and rocks, where they receive little or no support wee ae their roots. The first, including such genera as Phajus, Calant Bletia, Cypripediums, are known as TERRESTRIAL ORCHIDS: © others have sometimes been called Arr-PLans, but with a propriety they are now termed Eprpuyres. They gto the upon other plants, adhering to their bark or rooting among scanty soil that occupies their surface, not as parasites ayes upon adventitious roots into the wood and nourishing themsel

: 315 ORCHIDACEOUS PLANTS.

the sap of the individual to which they are attached, but using the tree apparently as a means of attaining a height where they can obtain the air and light, or the heat, moisture, and shade, as the case may be, necessary to their existence. Orcuipacrous Errpuyres are much the most numerous and interesting, and now that our great cultivators have been enabled to study their natural habits, they are grown in a state of perfection which it is doubtful if they ever attain in a state of nature. In the tropical forests they establish themselves upon the branches, and either vegetate in the midst of decayed vegetable and animal matter, or cling to the naked branches by their long, succulent, grasping roots, while they draw their food from the humid sultry atmosphere; for it appears they attach themselves alike to rocks and stones in moist places, where they grow luxuriantly.

On the confines of the Orchidaceous plants we find the family Aposrastace®, herbaceous perennials of the Indian woods, in many respects resembling the Orchids; differing from them chiefly in having a three-celled fruit, and a style altogether separated from the stamens for the greater part of its length; the Pumypracex plants of Australia and Asia, ex- herbaceous _ 4re grassy-looking hibiting the great spathetic bracts of the Musacew, with the habit : of Sedges. The Xyrmacem are herbaceous fibrous-rooted plants, with sword-shaped radical leaves dilating and equitant at the base, the flowers three-leaved, scaly heads, calyx glumaceous, having imbricated six. These petals three and stamens and coloured, corolla petaloid plants, glumaceous_ Plants join to the habit of Sedges and other plants. The of Liliaceous to the peculiarities__ Some approach of the Xyrids, _ Yuncacee, or Rushes, partake of the characteristics ®pproaching the grasses in the glumaceous character of ‘the calyx and corolla, and Xyrids in that of their calyx and bracts. They are herbaceous plants, with tufted or creeping roots and tapering -: Stem, often with a distinct pith. The Orontiacem are herbaceous plants with broad, entire, or _ deeply-divided, sometimes sword-shaped, leaves. They occupy ___ Woodland stations chiefly within the tropics of both hemispheres,but : _ Ste found also in colder regions, one of them, Symplocarus, being

common in the swamps of the United States; another, Calla palustris, in the deep muddy marshes of South Lapland, in 64° north.

The beautiful creations which constitute the Liliales have been cultivated and admired for ages. In Fig. 363 the'petaloid corolla of the Lily is represented;; and in Fig. 364 the group of Lilies represented will give a general idea of the habit of the type of the LIntaes.., The protecting envelope of the flower of the Lily (Fig. 363)18 composed of six folioles or petals, which as a whole form the delicate white and odorous flowers of the Lily. Of these six folioles, the three exterior ones constitute a petal-shaped calyx; while the three inner oe which are placed alternately with those of the outer

exert; hits * Fig. 863.—Petaloid Corollaof the Lily. ~ ae - circle, and differ slightly in form and colour from them, constite a the corolla. = The Andreecaeum is composed of six stamens, disposed in pe ticilles with white filaments, elongate two-celled anthers attached their backs, filled with a yellowish pollen, and opening longit The pistil of the Liry is may composed of three carpels,as _ ascertained by an examination of the constituent ee

three carpels are united, constituting one whorl; thus appearing as one organ standing in the centre of the flower, o being the

Fig. 365.—Group of White Lilies. tl » § the style, and st the stigma. The ovary, which is§ tee “uperior, preoats three idling sides externally, with three

inner cells, the walls of which correspond to the three deep external grooves formed by three capillary leaves united together by their contiguous edges. Numerous ovules are inserted in two

series at the central angle of the cells. The style, which is thickest at the summit, is crowned by a three-lobed stigma. The

matured fruit forms a capsule which opens of itself—not by deglutination, but by an opening in the dorsal suture of each cell; that is to say, the dechiscence is /oculicidal. The seed presents an embryo in a direct axis in fleshy albumen.

The Lily is a deep-rooted perennial plant, with bulbous root. The bulb is scaly (Fig. 366); the stem of the large proportion of those which are natives of cold countries perish after ripening their leaves, flowers, and fruit. The leaves generally are lanceolate in their lower parts and linear above; the last ovate as well as lanceolate.

| The flowers form a cluster, white,

yellowish, or reddish, brown or spotted, according to their variety. } e Y plants are gene- The Liliaceous rally large and showy, especially in those with annual stems, as the Lily itself, the Fritillaria, the — the Star of ae Hyacinth, Odorous Bethlehem,the Hemerocallex, and the Tulip, which combines all that is rich and beautiful in colourand form. But there are Liliales of - arborescent size and stem, as the a Dragon-Tree (Dracena Draco), contracts,8° in which the flower trees have the | that the largest

bearing cup-shaped flowers Te Fig. 366.—Bulb of the Lily, markable for their colours,wit0™” spathes, and the anthers lightly attached to a stiffSoop e This division of the order includes the Lilies, Fritillarias, 108

Tooth Violet. One of these, the Lilium Chalcidonicum, covers _ the plains of Syria with its scarlet flowers. The Hemerocallee, or Day Lilies, have the calyx and corolla joined together, so as to form a tube of considerable length. The fragrant Tube Rose and Agapanthus belong to this division, and the Aloes resemble them in almost all their parts, except the thick succulent foliage. The Asperagee includes the Common Asparagus and the Lily of the Valley, Dracena and Ruscus. The geographical limits of the order are as wide as its differences. Aloes abound in the southern parts of Africa. The Dragon-trees, the most gigantic of the order, attain their greatest size in the Canaries, where the Dragon-tree of Orotava (Plate VI.) is described as being between seventy and Seventy-five feet high and forty-six feet in circumference at the base All travellers to Teneriffe visit this gigantic Lily, which 18, according to tradition, an object of adoration to the Guanchos, who are the primitive people of these islands. It is probably long anterior to historic times. At the conquest of Teneriffe by the iards, it was already as large and as hollow as it is to-day.

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