ORCHID COLOLtECTING STANDLEY 355 



Central American flora is still very imperfect, and that many years 

 more of intensive exploration are necessary. At present it is pos- 

 sible to obtain new plants even in the localities most often visited, 

 and it frequently results that conspicuous and important plants, well 

 known locally, are unknown to science. In the case of orchids, 

 because of their peculiar distribution and mode of growth, the need 

 for additional exploration is greater than in the case of most other 

 groups of plants, and it is certain that the number of orchids known 

 to exist in Central America will be greatly increased, perhaps even 

 doubled, in future years. 



ORCHIDS OF NORTHERN CENTRAL AMERICA 



The portion of Central America with which the writer is most 

 familiar, aside from the Canal Zone, is the Republic of Salvador, 

 where five months were spent in 1921-22. Salvador unfortunately 

 has few orchids, and only about 50 species are known there, most of 

 these having been collected by Dr. Salvador Calderon and the writer. 

 Salvador undoubtedly has a smaller orchid flora than any other 

 Central American country, because its climate is comparatively dry 

 and the country lies wholly upon the Pacific slope, the Atlantic slope 

 being richer in these plants. Future exploration in small areas of 

 forest remaining upon the higher volcanoes will doubtless reveal a 

 good many additions to the list now known. 



Of the Salvadorean orchids the handsomest is Cattleya skimieri, 

 widely distributed in Central America, a showy species (pi. 20), 

 known here as San Sehastidn. During the dry season, when the 

 trees upon which they grow are nearly or quite devoid of leaves, 

 the huge plants covered with flowers are conspicuous masses of color. 

 Bunches of the flowers are brought frequently to the markets for 

 sale. Some fine plants of another striking orchid, Efidendrwm 

 aurantiacum, notable for its clusters of orange blossoms, were seen 

 in the mountains about Ahuachapjin. In the same mountain range 

 vanilla growls in some abundance, and doubtless occurs in other 

 regions as well. 



In late spring of 1922 several weeks were spent upon the north 

 coast of Guatemala, near the famous Maya city of Quirigua. This 

 area belongs to the wet coastal belt, and has an altitude of only a 

 few hundred feet above sea level. Because of this slight elevation, 

 comparatively few orchids occur here, and at this season of the year 

 still fewer were in flower. Still, here and there upon the trees, 

 especially in deep swamps, which are filled with giant trees and 

 tangled thickets of native bamboo, there were found a few orchids 

 ■worth collecting, certainly more than it Avould be possible to find 

 in any single locality in Salvador. 



