PLANT NAMES AND THEIR MEANINGS— XXI 



ORCHIDACEAE 



By WiLLAKD N. Clute 



O RANCHING off from the dicots at some point near the 

 ^-^ hnttercu]) or water-lily alliance, the great group of 

 ])lants known as the monocotyledons has arisen and progress- 

 ed steadily upward from such lowly species as the grasses and 

 sedges to its culmination in the ( )rchidaceae, the highest and 

 most specialized group of i)lants in the world. This re- 

 nowned family possesses many traits in common with the 

 asters and tliistles which stand highest in rank among the 

 dicotyledons. All have inferior ovaries, united petals, a 

 single whorl of stamens, and zygomorphic flowers. There 

 are few in either group with inconspicuous inflorescences, hut 

 while the asters and their kind have depended upon small 

 flowers in close clusters, made noticeahle by enlarged and 

 colored ray-flowers, the orchids have fewer and much larg- 

 er flowers and these so specialized and splendid that they are 

 at once the objects of admirati(Mi by the 'general i)ublic and 

 the source of much interest to the scientist. 



The titular genus of the Orchidaceae is Orchis, <Mice of 

 more extended dimensions but which in our region now in- 

 cludes onlv two somewhat inconspicuous species. In being 

 somewhat retiring they resemble the generic name which is 

 a very ancient one arising out of the mists of anti(|uity and 

 belonging to that class of names whose derivation Dr. Gray 

 used to observe, is "recondite." 



It is natural that flowers as beautiful as those of the 

 Orchidaceae and found for the most part here and there in 

 remote swamps and dark woodlands, should be in manv in- 



