v.] DENDROBE. 51 



These are the three sepals. They are free very nearly 

 to the base ; the two lateral ones, however, are there 

 united into a short, obtuse, spur-like projection at the 

 back of the flower. The three inner leaves of the flower 

 are the petals \ the dissimilar concave petal with the dark 

 blotch being specially distinguished in this flower as the 

 lip. It is usual in flowers like this, in which the parts 

 of the calyx and corolla resemble each other in colour 

 and texture (as well as when a calyx only or a corolla 

 only is present), to speak of the envelopes of the flower 

 collectively as perianth^ calling the parts of which it is 

 made up the leaves of the perianth. Before you can 

 ascertain the relation of the perianth to the ovary, and 

 whether to describe it as superior or inferior, it will be 

 needful to make a very careful examination of the flower. 

 First press down the extremity of the lip, say an inch below 

 its usual position. This will expose a minute conical body 

 coloured green, with a crimson apex projecting from the 

 centre of the flower, which had been previously concealed 

 by the incurved sides of the lip. This projecting cone it is 

 convenient to speak of as the colunm in flowers of this kind. 

 The crimson tip is the anther-cell of the solitary stamen. ^ 

 Remove it with the point of a penknife, and you may 

 observe the two waxy longitudinally grooved microscopic 

 pGlleii-masscs side by side between the minute horns of the 

 top of the column. Observe next the under face of the 

 column — the face turned towards the lip. It is slightly 

 concave, especially immediately under the anther, where 

 there occurs a minute glistening depression. This de- 

 pression is occupied by the stigma. The lower part of the 

 column is produced downwards a short way into the spur- 



1 Be careful to secure a recently expanded flower unvisited by insects, 

 or the anther-case and pollen may be already removed. 



E 2 



