OBCHID COLLECTING STANDLEY 357 



rise rapidly until high mountains are soon reached, but unfortu- 

 nately none of these are easily accessible from the Zone. Near the 

 Canal most of the land has been deforested and the original vegeta- 

 tion greatly modified, but even within the Zone there remain some 

 areas of nearly or quite virgin forest, within which it is possible to 

 study the primeval vegetation. In the dense and humid forests, 

 composed of lofty trees with but scant undergrowth, careful search 

 will disclose a fair number of orchids. 



After the Canal had been completed and water was turned into 

 the Gatun Lake Basin, as the water rose large stretches of forest 

 were inundated and the trees soon died. Great expanses of the lake 

 waters are still covered with protruding dead tree tops, which give 

 a decidedly dreary and unattractive aspect to the landscape. After 

 the trees died the epiphytic plants continued to grow, and were 

 much more conspicuous than before. Among the dead branches 

 there was an abundance of orchids, and it was easy to collect them 

 from a boat. Practically all the orchid plants have now been re- 

 moved, however, and little of interest is to be found in these areas. 



The lowland forests of the Canal Zone are typical of many other 

 regions throughout Central America. Such forests are not the 

 most favorable localities in which to search for orchids, since these 

 plants attain their best development at much higher altitudes. On 

 the Atlantic slope the lack of elevation is somewhat compensated 

 for by the excessive moisture, a plentiful supply of water being one 

 of the chief requirements for luxuriant orchid growth. 



When during early construction days Americans began to arrive 

 in the Canal Zone, the great majority of them unfamiliar with trop- 

 ical conditions, even the least interested could scarcely fail to take 

 notice of the more conspicuous plants, which were quite unlike any- 

 thing known to one reared in the temperate zone. Orchids, being as 

 universally associated with conventional conceptions of tropical 

 regions as parrots and monkeys, naturally drew their share of atten- 

 tion, and many temporary residents in the Zone made small collec- 

 tions of them. Without helpful literature upon the subject, and 

 without any person able to furnish information concerning the 

 plants, it was impossible to do more than assemble these amateur 

 collections in the most haphazard way, and little or nothing was 

 added to the recorded scientific information regarding the orchid 

 flora of Panama. When their owners returned to the States, the col- 

 lections were usually left behind and the plants died for lack of care. 

 The most notable of these local collections of construction days were 

 those assembled by Mrs. D. D. Gaillard and Mrs. H. H. Rousseau, 

 both of which were of considerable size and included many interest- 

 " ing plants. When Mr. Henry Pittier visited the Canal Zone in 



