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MONOCOTYLEDONS 



Other Orchids. 



The Orchid Family comprises more than five thou sund^ species. 

 Many of them have very showy flowers. They flourish largely in 

 the hill tracts of India, and as they do not get sutticient light 

 on the ground in a forest, they frequently settle on the trunks 

 and branches of trees. They are, however, not parasitic, preying 

 on the juice of the trees, like the Loranthus, but simply throw 

 out cord-like aerial roots by which they attach themselves to the 



groNviii;^' on the bark of a tree, witli 

 pseudo-buUjs ( ,• of natural size). 



bark. They feed on the dust blown by tlie wind into the fissures 

 of the bark, and on the rain and dew falling on them. Such a 

 habitat must be unfavoural)l(', indeed, during the rainless season; 

 but in many genera of the Orchids this is compensated for by 

 the lower joints of the stems or leaves becoming much thickened 



