Orchidales.] ORCHIDACEiE. 175 



of my view of the time natm'e of the stamens, wliich are certainly all opposite the lobes 

 of the stigma in Cjqjripedium. While, however, the untenableness of the first opinion 

 concerning the relation borne by the stigmas to the other parts of the flower, is thus 

 admitted, there remains a difficulty that opposes itself to the view I now take in common 

 with Brown, and which must not be overlooked. It is that the placentiferous pieces of 

 the ovary are not opposite the stigmas, but alternate with them, while the seedless 

 pieces cif the ovary are in a Ime with the stigmata ! This seems to show that the ovary 

 is composed of 6 carpellary leaves, of which three bear stigmas without ovules, and 

 three bear o^^lles without stigmas. However paradoxical this may appear, it is by no 

 means incompatible with the due performance of the functions of fertilisation ; for the 

 carpellary leaves do not adhere into a solid mass, either in the ovary or in the style. 

 On the contrary they form a cavity open from the stigmatic apex down to the ovules, 

 and the whole of that cax-ity is hned with a lax conducting tissue, which may neverthe- 

 less be exclusively furnished by 3 stigmas only, and may become so confluent with the 

 placentae as to form a perfect channel of communication for the pollen tubes in their 

 descent into the o\'ules. 



The Order owes its chief peculiarities to the following circumstances : firstly, to 

 the consolidation of stamens and pistil into one common mass, called the column ; 

 secondly, to the suppression of all the anthers, except one in the mass of the Order, 

 or two in Cypripedese ; thirdly, to the peculiar condition of its pollen, and the anther 

 which contains it ; and fourthly, to the very general development of one of the 

 inner leaves of the perianth or petals in an excessive degree, or in an unusual form. 

 These peculiarities are in most cases so striking, and are all so strongly mani- 

 fested in the same flower, that the inexperienced botanist may be vmable to discover 

 their real character. We find, however, that the true natm'e of each part is mdicated 

 by special cases of structui'e occurring in different parts of the Order. Thus in Cypri- 

 pedium not only are two lateral stamens furnished ^dth anthers, while the central stamen 

 is antherless, but the stigma and style separate from the filaments nearly to the base, 

 and the triple nature of the former is distinctly shown, together with the relation of its 

 lobes to the other parts of the flower. The pollen, which has so anomalous an appear^ 

 ance in its waxy or sectile state, presents the usual appearance of that substance in 

 Goodyera, and many Neottese. And the iiTegularity of the labellum disappears in such 

 genera as Thel;yTnitra, Paxtonia, Macdonaldia, Hexisea, and some others, whose flowers 

 are almost as regular as those of a Sisyrinchiura. It is indeed to the latter genus, more 

 nearly than to any other, that Orchids seem to approach in structure, imless to Gin- 

 gerworts ; so that they may be supposed to pass into Irids thi'ough Thelj-mitra and 

 Sisyiinchium on the one hand, and into Gingerworts through Plii'ynium and such a 

 genus as EveljTia on the other. With regard to Apostasiads, their relation to that 

 Order does not appear to be greater than to either of the two now mentioned ; and in 

 the absence of all e\'idence as to the connecting links which jom Orchids and Apos- 

 tasiads it seems mmecessary to advert further to the subject. It may, however, be 

 observed that Apostasia has apparently as much claim to be regarded as a diandi'ous 

 monadelphous Hypoxid, standing, perhaps, in the same relation to that Order as 

 Gilliesia to Lilyworts, as it has to be regarded as a trilocular Orchid with the gynan- 

 drous organization lost. 



It is not necessary to enter, in this place, into a history of the gradual alteration that 

 has taken place in the views of botanists with regard to the structure of the sexual appa^ 

 ratus of these most curious plants, or to explain what degree of ignorance was shown by 

 those who mistook masses of pollen for anthers, or a column of stamens for a style ; such 

 errors could only have occurred at a period when the laws of organization were unknown. 

 They have been corrected, in a more or less perfect manner, by various writers ; most 

 completely by Brown in his Prodromics, published in 1810, and subsequently by the late 

 most accurate and indefatigable Richard. But long before the publication of any 

 rational explanation of the "Structure of Orchids, while botanists were in utter dark- 

 ness upon the subject, it had been investigated by a man unrivalled in his day for 

 the perfection of his microscopical analyses, the beauty of his drawings, and the admi- 

 rable skill with which he followed Nature in her most secret workmgs ; and let me add, 

 which is a stiU rarer quality, the generous disinterestedness with which he communicated 

 to his friends the result of his patient and silent labours. Sketches were executed by the 

 late Francis Bauer, between 1794 and 1807, in which the most material part of what has 

 been published since that period is distinctly shown ; and it has been my good fortune to 

 be the humble means of giving some of these remarkable productions of the pencil to 

 the world, in the lllvMrations of the Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants. 



If the colvunn of an Orchidaceous plant is examined, it will be foimd to consist of a 

 fleshy body stationed opposite the hp, bearing a solitary anther at its apex, and having 

 in front a viscid cavity, upon the upper edge of which there is often a slight callosity, 

 called the rostellum. This cavity is the stigma, and the rostellum is the point by which 



