374 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



large-flowered local orchids. Father Benavides' plants are all 

 grown upon pieces of tree-fern trunks, which are said to furnish 

 the best medium for the growth of epiphytic species. 



The most enthusiastic local student is Mr. C. H. Lankester, of 

 Cartago, an Englishman who has spent many years in Costa Rica. 

 A naturalist in the best and widest sense of that word, he has de- 

 voted much time to the study and collection not only of orchids but 

 of birds and butterflies, in all of which he has made notable discov- 

 eries. His present collection of living plants contains a host of 

 beautiful and interesting forms. Besides local species, he has fine 

 exotic plants, including some of the most handsome Cattleyas. 

 He has carried on experiments in hybridization, and has planted 

 upon trees about his finca hybrids and exotic species, in an attempt 

 to naturalize them. Mr. Lankester has forwarded many living 

 orchids to the Kew Gardens, and from his collections there have 

 been described numerous Costa Rican novelties, including the new 

 genus Lankesterella. 



SOME SHOWT COSTA RIGAN ORCHIDS 



Costa Rican orchids are famed for their variety and for the beauty 

 of some of the species. They include all or most of the groups 

 already mentioned from Panama, besides many that do not occur in 

 Panama. Most showy of all are the Cattleyas, which are unusually 

 abundant in Costa Rica. 



To these. flowers there is given locally the name guaria, an in- 

 digenous term. The most plentiful is the guaria morada or purple 

 Cattleya, C. skinneri (pi. 20), a species which has already been men- 

 tioned as occurring in Salvador. In Costa Rica it is still more 

 abundant, growing commonly all over the Pacific slope. The plant 

 is a great favorite locally, and for this reason is seldom seen wild in 

 the more thickly populated districts. At Escazii, a small village 

 near the capital, I have seen a greater profusion than anywhere else, 

 and a show of great beauty in March and April, when the flowering 

 season is at its height. There is scarcely a home that does not own at 

 least a few plants, fastened upon trees in the dooryards, growing up- 

 on the tile roofs, or forming dense masses along the tops of the 

 adobe walls that inclose the gardens. 



One of the striking features of San Jose is the great number of 

 florists who have gardens or jardinerias where flowers are grown for 

 sale. All over Central America the production of cut flowers is an 

 industry of considerable importance, and in San Jose more so than 

 anywhere else, for the gardens here seem almost without number. 

 Most of the flowers grown for sale are of common sorts, such as roses, 

 carnations, and lilies, and they are planted in great abundance. The 



