OECHID FAMILY 5^ 



all others ; their adaptations for cross-pollination are many 

 and marvelous, and the flowers of some orchids remain open 

 for more than two months. They clothe themselves in the 

 dullest of colors, or open in rare and brilliant beauty^ and 

 in odor they range from the abattoir to the Elysian fields. 

 Of the more than seven thousand orchids that have 

 already been found in different parts of the world, more 

 than half grow upon trees, fastening themselves securely 

 to the trunk or branches, sending out strange aerial roots 

 to lay hold of food from air and dew, and living in a way 

 peculiar to themselves. 



ORCHIDS GEOWING ON TEEES 



The majority of the epiphytic orchids of Florida are 

 found only in the southern part of the peninsula. Of 

 this group a butterfly orchid, Epidendrum tampense, one 

 of the most abundant, is sometimes sold by florists, and 

 may be grown on dooryard trees. The flowers, which 

 remain open many days, are a peculiar shade of brownish 

 green, with a white and rose purple lip, and take on a 

 reddish tinge with age. This orchid is found locally as 

 far north as New Smyrna and Orlando. A far more 

 showy, but less common, tree orchid of extreme southern 

 Florida, Cyrtopodium punctatum, has a flowering-stem sev- 

 eral feet long, with many greenish yellow flowers spotted 

 with purplish brown, as are also the conspicuous wavy- 

 margined bracts. In contrast to this large plant is the 

 smallest of our tree orchids, Harrisella Amesiana, which 

 consists chiefly of slender roots that stretch along the 

 branches of cypress and a few other trees in the southern 

 part of the state. From the central point of these roots a 

 tiny flowering-stem rises in summer and bears a few 

 minute yellowish green flowers. 



Of the rarer tree orchids of extreme southern Florida 

 Polyrrhiza Lindenii sends out a short, leafless stem from 



