AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS. 
XITI. 
WE must no longer delay some notice of the 
Orchis family, though their times of flower- 
ing extend from April to September. This 
family, Nat. Ord. OrcHIDACE, is undoubtedly 
the most remarkable in the whole vegetable 
kingdom. There are probably about 6,000 
species, of which we have only 42. The name, 
which is Greek, alludes to the tubers of the 
roots, especially those of the genus Ovchis, 
whose plants have either ovozd, solid egg-shaped 
root-knobs, or Aalmate ones, z.e., shaped like a 
hand. 
The few which grow in the British Isles 
spring from the ground; but in tropical 
countries they perch themselves upon boughs, 
and in the crevices of trees, and are nourished, 
in that case, partly by the moist steamy atmos- 
112 
