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ovules. Hence such a plant would appear to be monandrous ; it will be seen, 

 however, in Scitamineae and Marantacege, the only other monandrous orders 

 of Monocotyledons, that, while only one perfect stamen is developed, two 

 others exist in a rudimentary state ; so that the ternary number prevalent in 

 Monocotyledons is not departed from. So it is in Orchideae : the column 

 does not consist of a single filament cohering with a style, but of three fila- 

 ments firmly grown together, the central of which is antheriferous, the lateral 

 sterile, or, as in Cypripedium, the central sterile, the two lateral antheriferous. 

 This is proved, in the former case, by the frequent presence of callosities, or 

 processes in the place of the sterile stamens ; by imperfectly-formed anthers 

 occasionally appearing at the side of the perfect one ; and, if any further 

 evidence were wanted, by monsters, in which a regular structure is exchanged 

 for the ordinary irregular one. Such an instance in Orchis latifolia is de- 

 scribed by M. Achille Richard, in the Manoires de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat. of 

 Paris, in which the flowers were perfectly triandrous, with no trace of irre- 

 gularity in any part of the floral envelopes. 



Orchideec are remarkable for the bizarre figure of their multiform flower, 

 which sometimes represents an insect, sometimes a helmet with the visor up, 

 and sometimes a grinning monkey : so various are these forms, so numerous 

 their colours, and so complicated their combinations, that there is scarcely a 

 common reptile or insect to which some of them have not been likened. 

 They all, however, will be found to consist of three outer pieces belonging to 

 the calyx, and three inner belonging to the corolla ; and all departures from 

 this number, six, depends upon the cohesion of contiguous parts, with the 

 solitary exception of Monoraeria, in which the lateral petals are entirely abor- 

 tive. Sometimes two of the sepals cohere into one, as in Cypripedium, and 

 then the calyx has the appearance of consisting of but two sepals ; sometimes 

 the lateral petals are connate with the column, as in Gongora and probably 

 Lepanthes, and then the column appears furnished with two wings. In nearly 

 the whole order the odd petal, called the labellum, arises from the base of the 

 column, and is opposite it; but in the Cape genus Pterygodium, the lip 

 sometimes grows from the apex of the column, and sometimes is stalked 

 and turned completely over between the fork of the inverted anther, and 

 thus seems to belong to the back of the column. Nor is the anther less 

 subject to modification, although constant to its place: sometimes it stands 

 erect, the line of dehiscence of its lobes being turned towards the labellum ; 

 sometimes it is turned upside down, so that its back regards the lip ; often it 

 is prone upon the apex of the column, where a niche is excavated for its 

 reception. The pollen is not less curious : now we have it in separate grains, 

 as in other plants, but cohering to a meshwork of cellular tissue, which is 

 collected into a sort of central elastic strap ; now the granules cohere in small 

 angular indefinite masses, and the central elastic strap becomes more appa- 

 rent, has a glandular extremity, which is often reclined in a peculiar pouch 

 especially destined for its protection ; again the pollen combines into larger 

 masses, which are definite in number, and attached to another modification 

 of the elastic strap ; and finally a complete union of the pollen takes place, 

 in solid waxy masses, without any distinct trace of this central elastic tissue. 

 Such is a part of the singularities of Orchideous plants, and upon these the 

 distinctions of their tribes and genera are naturally founded. Whoever stu- 

 dies them must bear in mind that their fructification is always reducible to 3 

 sepals, 3 petals, a column consisting of 3 stamens grown firmly to one ano- 

 ther, and to a single style and stigma; and, Avith this in view, he will have 

 no diflSculty in understanding the organisation of even the most anomalous 

 Cape species. For a long time it was supposed that no deviation from the 

 general structure existed, and that we had not in Orchidea; any very decided 



