AN ENCYCLOPADIA OF HORTICULTURE. 
515 
Orchidee continued. 
mascula, Morio, militaris, maculata, &.). Salep con- 
tains, in a small volume, an abundance of nutritive starch, 
associated with a peculiar gum, analogous to Bassorine; it 
was formerly considered a powerful analeptic; it is now 
used as a sweet, scented jelly, or mixed with chocolate. 
The root of Helleborine (Epipactis latifolia) is employed 
for arthritic pains; those of Himantoglossum hircinum, 
Spiranthes autumnalis, and Platanthera bifolia, are 
reputed to be aphrodisiac. The flowers of Gymnadenia 
conopsea are administered for dysentery; and, in North 
America, the tubers of Arethusa bulbosa are used to 
stimulate indolent tumours, and in toothache. The root 
of Spiranthes diuretica is renowned in Chili. The rhizome 
of Cypripedium pubescens replaces the Valerian as an 
antispasmodic, in the estimation of the Anglo-Americans ” 
(Decaisne and Le Maodt). 
ORCHID FERTILISATION. The great source 
of information on this, as on so many other important 
and interesting questions in Natural Science, is to be 
found in the writings of Charles Darwin, who has written, 
upon this subject, the well-known work On the Various 
Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are 
Fertilised by Insects.” This book must always be re- 
ferred to by those who wish to understand the very 
curious structures that adapt many Orchids, in a very 
peculiar degree, to benefit by the visits of insects, while 
a smaller number are adapted for self-fertilisation alone. 
Not a little information is contained also in the works 
of Dr. Hermann Miiller (of the chief of which a trans- 
lation has been published, entitled “The Fertilisation of 
Flowers”), of Professor Asa Gray, of Delpino, and of 
many others, whom it is impossible here even to enu- 
merate. 
An endeavour will be made here to bring together some 
of the more interesting results arrived at by the various 
writers, {selecting a few of the more characteristic 
examples from the species native in Britain, and there- 
after giving a short account of some exotic species that 
exhibit peculiarities not met with in British Orchids. 
~ The flowers of Orchids in general are very curious in 
form and arrangements of their parts. This is well seen in 
the many figures of Orchids that have appeared in this 
dictionary (see Aceras, Aerides, Calanthe, Cattleya, 
Chysis, Cologyne, Cymbidium, Cypripedium, 
Dendrobium, Epidendrum, Masdevallia, Maxil- 
laria, and Miltonia). 
But, despite this diversity, it is never difficult to 
recognise, that each flower is supported on a stalk, 
twisted half round, and that, when cut across, there are 
very many ovules visible in the stalk, and that this 
part really encloses the ovary, which is, therefore, in- 
ferior, and consists of three carpels, joined usually along 
their edges only. The flowers show six parts externally, 
viz., three sepals, much alike, and three petals, of which 
the lower one, in the mature flower, is almost always 
larger, broader, and more handsomely coloured than the 
others, and is called the labellum. It is often peculiar 
in form also, and very frequently it ends in a spur, 
which projects backwards, as the nectary. This latter, 
frequently, does not exude nectar into the tube, but 
contains it in the thin cells lining the latter; the walls 
of these cells are so thin as to allow insects (even 
moths) to pierce them readily, so as to obtain the juice. 
The tube is often nearly absent, but it is often of great 
length, and permits the honey to be Scared only by 
insects with long probosces (such as some moths and 
butterflies possess), or by boring holes from without, 
as humble bees often do. This latter method, of 
course, does not benefit the flower at all. The essen- 
tial, or reproductive, organs in the flower, consist of 
the stigmas and the fertile stamen, or, in Cypripedieœ, 
the two fertile stamens, and the remains of two stamens, 
or of one stamen reduced to the state of a staminode, 
Orchid Fertilisation—continued. 
i.e., of a stamen no longer of use in forming pollen, but 
modified to perform some other function for the welfare 
of the plant. The relation of the larger parts of the 
flower to one another, will be more easily understood 
Fic. 762. FLOWER OF LÆLIA ALBIDA, 
from the accompanying woodeut of the flower of Lelia 
albida (see Fig. 762). The sepals are the three narrower 
parts, situated behind, and overlapped by, the three 
petals, of which the lower in the figure is the labellum 
or lip. The dark, central spot is the opening of the 
nectary; and the upper part of the spot, is the situation 
of the stigmas. In Orchids, only two of the three are 
developed as stigmas, and often—in fact, usually—they 
unite. Just above the dark spot is seen the column, 
united to the labellum by two ridges. This column is 
regarded as formed by the fusion into one body of the 
upper part of the carpels, the fertile stamens, whether 
one or (in Cypripedium) two, and probably three or (in 
Cypripedium) two undeveloped stamens ; but of the latter, 
as a rule, no clear trace remains. At the tip of the 
column is a body—the rostellum—usually regarded as 
the third stigma become useless as a stigma, but of 
great importance in securing the conveyance of pollen 
from one flower to the stigma of another. The labellum 
is also believed to be of compound nature, and to be 
formed of two metamorphosed stamens, and the median 
petal, closely united in growth. 
The structure of the fertile stamen, and the process 
by which pollen is conveyed from it to the stigma 
of another flower, by insect aid, in a common British 
Orchid will next be described, selecting, as a wide- 
spread and easily-obtained plant, the Spotted Orchis 
(Orchis maculata). In this species, the perfect stamen 
is situated on the front of the column; and in the anther 
there are two pouches, in which the pollen grains are 
inclosed. The grains are joined together into small masses, 
and these, again, are joined to form a single mass 
(pollinium) in each chamber. Each pollinium is formed 
like a club, supported on a slender stalk (caudicle), 
which ends below in a round, sticky ball. The two 
