356 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



Next to Costa Rica, Guatemala is the Central American country 

 which has yielded most orchids, about 340 species being reported. 

 Of all the Central American States, Guatemala has the greatest 

 diversity of topography, elevation, and climate, and consequently 

 the most varied flora, although the actual number of species may not 

 be so high as in Costa Rica. For orchids, the most productive por- 

 tions are the humid valleys of the departments of Alta and Baja 

 Verapaz. Many of the mountain ranges have a temperate climate, 

 too cold for the best development of these plants, and there are 

 many miles of pine forest, where few orchids may be expected. There 

 are also wide cactus deserts, closely resembling those of northern 

 Mexico, where very few orchids grow. 



Guatemala counts among its orchid species many that are noted 

 for their beauty. Most remarkable is a Cattleya {C. aurantiaca) 

 with orange-red flowers, which grows upon rocks and bald-cypress 

 trees {Taxodium mucronatum) at high altitudes. 



Of the orchids of Honduras and Nicaragua, as already stated, 

 little is known. From Nicaragua 65 species have been reported, and 

 from Honduras about the same number. Both countries have moun- 

 tain ranges and humid forests, in which many orchids must await the 

 discoverer. The scant information available concerning the Nicara- 

 guan flora reveals so many plants of exceptional interest, that it is 

 certain the country will later yield many other things equally 

 remarkable. The most inviting and tantalizing view, botanically, 

 that I have ever seen in Central America is that obtained in Salvador 

 of the blue mountain wall that lies to the north along the Honduran 

 frontier, near at hand yet almost inaccessible. Nothing is known of 

 its flora, but it must harbor a host of strange plants. Along the 

 Atlantic coast of Honduras a large collection of orchids was made 

 recently by Mr. Oakes Ames, but no account of it has yet been pub- 

 lished. 



ORCHID COLLECTING IN PANAMA 



In Panama the writer is acquainted only with the Canal Zone and 

 its immediate vicinity, a region typical of the lowland or tierra 

 caliente of both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Central America. 

 Although only 40 miles in breadth, the Isthmus at its narrowest 

 point exhibits an unexpected diversity of physical and floral char- 

 acters, because there is a strongly marked difference between the 

 climates of the two coasts. It is thus possible to study in the closest 

 proximity areas of vegetation typical of the humid Atlantic coast 

 and of the comparatively arid Pacific littoral, the latter with its 

 well-defined wet and dry seasons. 



In the Canal Zone the highest hills have an elevation of about 

 500 feet. Toward both the west and east in the Republic the hills 



