THE ORCHID FAMILY 



15f> 



restrial Orchids, which are to be found in hills and dales, also 



awaken and send up their shoots to the light and air. For,. 



their ti^berqus roots enable them to 



form leaves and stems at once from 



the reserve food contained in them. This 



food is mainly starch, and is so rich 



that, in some kinds, it can be used 



for the preparation of food for man, 



the "salep". 



If the plant is dug out early in the 

 season, a young bud can be seen in the 

 axil of one of the dry scales that sur- 

 round the shoot. This bud gradually 

 swells and becomes a tuber, like the old 

 one, so that, if we examine the plant at 

 about the time of Hovvering, in July, its 

 size is equal to that of the old one, the 

 mother-tuber, which then already shows 

 signs of shrivelling. If the plant is 

 examined once more when the fruit is 

 ripe, the mother-tuber will be found 

 brown and withered, whereas the daughter-tuber will be tirm, 

 light-coloured, stuffed out, and provided with a bud at its upper 

 end. These phenomena are the same as those which we have 

 noticed in the Potato tuber (page 91) and the bulb (page 154). 

 The reserve food in the tuber is used for the building up of the 

 leaves, flowers, and fruit of the plant, during which process the 

 plant stores fresh food in a new tuber for use in the following 

 year, and the old tuber being exhausted falls off and decays. 



2. The sprout of Hahenaria 7'otundlfoUa forms one or two 

 round Leaves (hg. 146), pressed close to the ground. Their 

 resemblance to the leaves of the Lotus-plant has given origin to 

 the vernacular name Nelatdvare, which means Ground-lotus. 

 They are quite smooth. Being surrounded by the moist air of 

 the monsoon, and growing in swampy soil which affords an ample 

 supply of water, the plant can dispense with the protective coat 

 of hairs which we frequently hnd on the stems and leaves of 



Fig. 1 4 G. — Tubers of 



Habenaria rolunJifolia 



at the time of fruiting 



{\ of natural size). 



