148 BURMA, ITS rEOPLE AXD PRODUCTIONS. 



GONTANTHES, Ifierx. 



Perianth tubular, 3-angled or ■wingutl, the 3 inner lobes minute. Anthers 3, 

 nearly sessile below the inner lobes. Geary 3-cellecL Capsule openin<; by transverse 

 iissures opposite the cells. Flowers terminal, solitary or eymose. Delicate leafless 

 herbs. 



G. WiLLicnii, iliers. Tavoy. S. China. 



Order ORCHIDE.E. 



IxiRODUCTION.' 



" The liurman books tell us (says Dr. Mason) that the trees round King 

 Wathandria's hermitage were covered with Orchids, and that after being plucked 

 they would retain their fragrance for seven days." King Wathandria (whoever that 

 worthy potentate may have been) must either have been in great favour with the 

 ]S^ats, supposing, as is highly probable, that they placed the (_)rchids there for his 

 special delectation ; or, if he were his own collector, he certainly displayed very 

 good taste, and an early appreciation of 'the beautiful' in Nature; for, assuredly, out of 

 all Flora's choice and bounteous store, nothing could have been drawn more worthy 

 of royal regard. It is with Orchiils still that the wealthy and the great love to 

 surround themselves in countries where these lovely plants are strange and exotic ; 

 and this at a cost which would probably have astonished good King "Wathandria, and 

 which, in the aggregate, is worth a king's ransom. 



The varied and fantastic beauty of this order of plants has attracted so much 

 attention, especially of late, and is so fully appreciated, tliat it would be superfluous 

 to dilate on this part of the subject ; I shall confine myself, therefore, to remarks on 

 their habit of growth and the structure of their flowers for the better information of 

 those to whom they are favourites, and who, knowing but little about them, may 

 desire to know more. For it is to these, and not to the scientific (whom I do not 

 pretend to instructs, that my observations here and my familiar descriptions herealter 

 are mainly addressed. 



"Orchids" are found all over the 'world, except ■where the rigour of winter is 

 Arctic, or the aridity of summer heat excessive: but "Air-plants" (as they are 

 often called) arc not. These last are confined to the warmer or tropical regions of the 

 earth. The strange plants, a peculiarity in the root of which first gave them their 

 name, were originally discovered and studied in Europe, where they are all terrestrial, 

 and have fibrous or tuberous roots, growing like most ordinary plants. Afterwards, as 

 Botanical research was extended to tropical countries, plants of a similar habit of 

 growth and structure, also teri'cstrial, were discovered ; Tint, besides them, others (and 

 the.se by far the most beautiful) of a different habit — epiphytal — though having the 

 same general peculiarities of floral structure. And, inasmuch as Natural Orders are 

 framed more on similarity of such floral structure than on vegetative growth, the 

 name Orehidem was extended to all those new plants, whether terrestrial or epiphytal, 

 although not strictly ap])ropriate to the latter. But, while Orchidece is the scientific 

 name for both groups, the name of " Air-plants " has been used for the latter by the 

 non-scientific. Hence a vulgar error that the words "Orchids" and "Air-plants" 

 are synonymous expressions and co-extensive. But this is not the case. As not all 

 Orchids arc Aii'-plants, so neither are all Air-plants Orchids. Some of the former 

 (as already remarked) are terrestrial, and many other plants besides Orchids are Air- 

 phmts. or (better) Epiphytes ; as, for example, many Vaecinia, (Exehiinantha, and 

 some lUiododendra. 



And now for a word or two on the term " epiphyte." An " epipliyte " (I shall 

 presume upon sufficient learning in my readers to ti'll them the meaning of the word) 

 is a plant which only asks for a lodgment on another and larger ])lant (a roel often 

 answers its purpose), gi'owing on it simply as a support, and deriving no nourishment 



' Tins interesting aiul hicid intrdduction to tlic order Orchhleiv lias been most kindly fiwuislied hy 

 the liev. C. rarish. 



