180 ORCHID ACE^. [Endogens. 



zone, and in climates remarkable for dryness. In Europe, Asia, and North America, they 

 are seen growing everywhere, in groves, in marshes, and in meadows ; in the drier 

 parts of Africa the}- 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 Madagascar, and the neighbouring islands, in the damp and huniid 

 forests of Brazil, in the warm mild parts of Central America, and Western Mexico, 

 in the damp tropical parts of India, and on the lower mountams of Nipal, the Orchida- 

 ceous 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 epiphytal class, one only is found so far north as South Carolina, 

 growmg upon the branches of the Magnolia, if we except the species from Japan, a 

 country which has a cUmate peculiar to itself, among regions in the same parallel of 

 latitude. The most southern stations are those of Earina mucrouata in New Zealand, 

 m lat. 35" S., and of Gunnia austraUs in Emu Bay, Van Diemen's Land, lat. 41" S. 

 Ample details respecting their distribution in AustraUa are given by A. Ctmmngham 

 in the Botanical Register for 1843 t. 37. 



It often happens that those productions of nature which charm the eye with theii* 

 beauty, and dehght the senses with their perfume, have the least relation to the wants 

 of manldnd, w^hile the most powerful \Ti'tues or most deadly poisons are hidden beneath 

 a mean and msignificant exterior : thus Orchids, beyond their beauty, can scarcely 

 be said to be of knov\Ti utihty, vM\\ a few exceptions. The nutritive substance called 

 Salep has been prepared from the subterraneous succulent 

 roots of Orchis mascula and many others of the Oplu'eous 

 division ; and in India from the tubers of a species of 

 Eulophia ; it consists almost entirely of a chemical prin- 

 ciple called Bassorin. The root of Bletia verecunda is 

 said to be stomachic. Some of the South American 

 species, such as the Catasetums, Cyrtopodiums, &c., contain 

 a A-iscid juice, which being mspissated by boiling, becomes 

 a kind of vegetable glue used for economical pm'poses in 

 Brazil. The viscidity of the tuber of Aplectrum hyemale is 

 such that it is called Putty-root in the United States, and 

 is used for cementing broken earthenware. 



Other medical quaUties have been assigned to other 

 species, but they seem to be of no importance ; thus, Are- 

 thusa bulbosa is employed in the United States in tooth- 

 ache and bringing tumours to a head, Spiranthes dim^etica 

 as a diirretic in Chile, where also Chlorsea disoides is fancied 

 to promote the flow of milk. Cypripedium pubescens is 

 used in North America as a substitute for Valerian, C. 

 guttatum m Siberia against epilepsy. Vanilla is one of the 

 most deUghtful aromatics Imown ; it is used in the manu- Fig. CXXIV. 



facture of chocolate, of liqueurs, and of various articles 



of confectionery. The substance called by this name in the shops is the dried fmit of 

 Vanilla planifolla, and other species ; it contains a great quantity of essential oil, and a 

 good deal of benzoic acid. Dr. Bird says that the effluvium of Vanilla mtoxicates the 

 labourer who gathers it. — Peter Pilgrim, 1. 234. See Linncea. 4. 573, for some account 

 of the cultivation of the plant in Mexico. Vanilla claviculata is bitter as well as fragrant, 

 and its leaves are regarded in the West Indies, where it is called Liane a blessures, as 

 a ^'allnerary, and antisyphilitic. In New Holland many species are eaten by the natives, 

 who find theu' starchy roots a good article of diet. Mr. Backliouse describes the 

 Gasti'odia sesamoides as ha\Tng a root like a series of kidney potatoes, teiTninating in a 

 branched, thick mass of coral-like fibres. It is eaten by the aborigines of Tasmannia, 

 and is sometimes called native potato ; but its tubers are watery and insipid. 



P. Bro^\^le states that the corm of Bletia verecmida is " bitterish and attended by a 

 clamminess that leaves a light prickly warmth behind it ; but this wears off" soon, 

 leaving the palate free from every sensation but that of the bitter. When di'ied it may 

 be used vAXh great propriety as a stomachic." According to Sir R. Schomburgk the 

 expressed juice of Epidendrum bifidum is a purgative, taken in doses of a table 

 spoonful at a time ; it is also reckoned in Tortola an anthelmintic, and diuretic, &c. 

 — Linncea, ix. 512. 



Fig. CXXIV.— Orchis mascula roots in the state in which they are dried as salep. 



