MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN » 141 
‘The Indo-Malayan region is almost equally prolific in 
forms and likewise comprises a wide area, affording such 
enera as Dendrobium, Cypripedium, Coelogyne, Vanda, 
mbidium Calanthe, ete. Of these the representatives of 
the genus Dendrobium show perhaps the ridect distribution, 
more than four hundred species being scattered over the 
islands of the Malayan Archipelago and the western coast 
of Australia and extending to the Himalayan Mountains, 
in Burma, with finally some twenty-five species inhabiting 
the southwest portion of India and Ceylon. The richest 
district extends from the Nepaulese Himalayas down to lower 
Burma. In this region the plants are subjected to extreme 
heat, accompanied by an abundance of moisture through- 
out the greater part of the year. This is due to the enor- 
mous amount of water vapor which ascends from the Bay of 
Bengal and drifts towards the mountains where it is pre- 
cipitated in the lower valleys, on coming in contact with 
the higher and colder altitudes. During the rainy season 
the plants make their growth in the form of a rod-like 
pseudo-bulb or elongated stem, varying in length from a 
few inches to six feet, according to the species. The dry 
season is comparatively short, varying according to the 
locality but usually lasting from the middle of October to 
the middle of March. During this period the plants assume 
a deciduous habit but are clothed with flowers which are 
produced, in most cases, in pairs from the nodes of the stems. 
The moth orchid, a representative of the genus Phalaenopsis, 
flowering specimens of which have frequently attracted 
attention in the Garden, is widely distributed over the islands 
of the Malayan Archipelago. 
The orchid region of Africa extends from Ashantee on 
the west coast, through Sierra Leone to the Congo Free State 
and British Central Africa, and to the Comoro Islands and 
Madagascar. While the number of genera represented in 
this region is small, as compared to the number found in 
South America and Indo-Malaya, nevertheless such interest- 
ing genera as Angraecum, Listrostachys, Lissochilus, Bulbo- 
abyilitn: Ansellia, etc., are found; one small genus of terres- 
trial orchids, Disa, is confined to the table mountains of Cape 
Colony. - 
Early Introduction. The earliest introduction of orchids 
for cultivation dates from 1731, when a dried specimen of 
a terrestrial species, Bletia verecunda, was sent to Peter Col- 
linson, of England, from the Bahamas. The early attempts 
at cultivation were, in all cases, disappointing, owing to the 
crude methods employed. The greenhouses at that period 
