2G4 



link between that family and others; but the discovery of a remarkable 

 Indian plant by Blume and Wallich, called Apostasia by the former botanist, 

 which, with many of the peculiarities of Orchideee, is triandrous with a regular 

 corolla and 3-locular fruit, seems to shew that even in this tribe there are 

 gradations which tend to destroy the value of the technical differences of bota- 

 nists. It does not, however, appear to me certain that this genus, although 

 referred to OrchidetE by Blume, is not really of a different tribe. 



If the following diagram be compared with those employed to illustrate 

 the distinctions of Marantacese and Scitaminese, p. 269, the relation borne 

 to those orders by Orchidese will be distinctly seen. In the diagram the 

 parts are arranged as they are in nature before the ovarium twists ; that 

 is, with the labellum next the axis, or uppermost, and the stamen undermost. 

 Let C, C, C represent the outer series of floral envelopes or calyx, and 

 PP, P, P the inner, or corolla, of which PP is the labellum ; then the 

 position of the single fertile stamen will be at S, and of the sterile ones at 

 s,s; that is to say, in the situation of the supernumerary petaloid stamens 

 of Scitamineae and Marantaceje, while the second series of stamens, to which 

 the fertile stamen of these orders belongs, is not developed in Orchide^. 



Geography. Found in almost all parts of the world, except upon the 

 verge of the frozen zone, and in climates remarkable for dryness. In Europe, 

 Asia, and North America, they are found growing every where, in groves, in 

 marshes, and in meadows ; in the drier parts of Africa they are either rare or 

 unknown ; at the Cape of Good Hope they abound in similar situations as 

 in Europe; but in the hot damp parts of the West and East Indies, in Mada- 

 gascar, and the neighbouring islands, in the damp and humid forests of 

 Brazil, and on the lower mountains of Nipal, these Orchideous plants flourish 

 in the greatest variety and profusion, no longer seeking their nutriment from 

 the soil, but clinging to the trunks and limbs of trees, to stones and bare 

 rocks, where they vegetate among ferns and other shade-loving plants, in 

 countless thousands. Of the epiphytic class, one only is found so far north 

 as South Carolina, growing upon the branches of the Magnolia, if we except 

 the species from Japan, which, as I have elsewhere stated, appears to have a 

 climate peculiar to itself, among countries in the same parallel of latitude. 

 The number of species of this tribe is imknown, but probably is not less than 

 1500. 



Properties. It often happens that those productions of nature which 

 charm the eye with their beauty, and delight the senses with their perfume, 

 have the least relation to the wants of mankind, while the most powerful 

 virtues or most deadly poisons are hidden beneath a mean and insignificant 

 exterior : thus Orchideee, beyond their beauty, can scarcely be said to be of 

 known utility, with a few exceptions. The nutritive substance called Salep 

 is prepared from the subterraneous succulent roots of Orchis mascula and 



