AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS. 113 
phere which surrounds them, and partly by the 
decayed matter adjacent to their roots. 
These tree-inhabiting Orchids are called 
Lpiphytes, as distinguished from parasites. 
Many of the species have beautiful blooms of 
rich colours; and whilst scarcely any of these 
blooms resemble those of other plants in ap- 
pearance, many of them assume fantastic forms 
palpably resembling insects, birds, reptiles, 
quadrupeds, and even the human figure. 
Hence such names as Bee-Orchis, and those 
called after the fly, the lizard, the dove, the 
butterfly, and the wasp, etc. The Dove 
Orchis, Perzsterza elata, has a large white flower 
containing in the centre a brooding dove; an- 
other species is the Swan’s-neck, Cychnoches, 
the neck-like portion being two inches long; 
another presents the perfect similitude of a 
donkey’s head, with its eyes and long ears. 
In temperate countries—our own for instance 
—instead of the straggling growth elsewhere so 
frequent, the Orchids have spikes more or less 
dense, often resembling those of a hyacinth. 
The structure of the flower is wholly different 
from that of all others ; and from the peculiar 
position of the parts of fructification it bears 
H 
