262 



there are gradations which tend to destroy the value of the technical differ- 

 ences of botanists. It does not, however, appear to me certain that this genus, 

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



If the following diagram be compared with those employed to illustrate the 

 distinctions of Marantacea^and Scitaminea, p. 266, 267, the relation borne to those 

 orders by Orchidese will be distinctly seen. In the diagram the parts are ar- 

 ranged as they are in nature before the ovarium twists ; that is, with the label- 

 lum next the axis, or uppermost, and the stamen undermost. Let C, C, C re- 

 present 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 sta- 

 men 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 Scitaminere and Marantacea^, while 

 the second series of stamens, to which the fertile stamen of these orders belongs, 

 is not developed in Orchideae. 



PP 



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 Madagas- 

 car, 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 great- 

 est 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, grow- 

 ing 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 unknown, 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 vir- 

 tues or most deadly poisons are hidden beneath a mean and insignificant exte- 

 rior : thus Orchidere, 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 others ; it con- 

 sists almost entirely of a chemical principle called Bassorin. Turner, 699. 

 The root of Bletia verecunda is said to be stomachic. Lunun. And some of 

 the South American species, such as the Catasetums, Cyrtipodiums, &c, con- 

 tain a viscid juice, which, being inspissated by boiling, becomes a kind of vege- 



