..80 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
four feet and a half long when the plant came away ; and a remarkable 
healthy new leaf made its appearance during the voyage, which is now 
1$ foot long. 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
FoLIA ORCHIDACEA ; by Dr. LINDLEY. 
The * Folia Orchidacea, or an “ Enumeration of the known species 
of Orchids,” is a contemplated work, to the task of which—we say it 
in all sincerity—we believe there is only one author existing who is 
competent; and that author is Professor Lindley. His devoted attention 
to this family of plants, his unprecedented advantages, due to his fa- 
miliarity with the living plants now so long in cultivation in public and 
private gardens, and the noble collection in his herbarium, —for all 
Orehid-growers and collectors have been anxious to cast their speci- 
mens at his feet,—the numerous figures that he has published, or been 
instrumental in publishing, and above all the innumerable graphic il- 
-lustrations on the papers of his herbarium, made from living and dried 
‘specimens, executed, too, by his own hand,—all give him an advantage 
which no other individual has possessed or can possess. His ‘ Folia 
-Orchidacea? has been some time announced, and we have the pleasure 
of stating that the first part is now before us. ‘ The work," the author 
tells us, “upon which this enumeration is founded (Genera et Species 
Orchidearum) was commenced in April, 1830, and terminated in Octo- 
Orchid-growers. “Twenty-two years have therefore elapsed since 
its commencement, during which period the advance of discovery has 
been so rapid, that numerous genera have been added to what were 
then known; others have been subdivided, or wholly remodelled; and 
multitudes of species have been introduced, and published in so many 
different works, that their identification has become attended with very 
great difficulty. In 1830 the Orchidaceous plants of tropical America 
were searcely known in either gardens or herbaria; of late years they 
have multiplied enormously ; those of the Philippines were unheard of ; 
ber, 1840 ;” and that work, all know, was a great boon to botanists and 
