ORCHIDEOUS EPIPHYTES. 



218 



ORCHIDEOUS EPIPHYTES. 



culture thrive best potted in turfy i 

 jjeat or chopped moss, left suffici- 

 ently loose to allow the points of the 

 roots to protrude occasionally, and 

 to hang down over the side of the 

 pot. The flowers of the Dendro- 

 biums are generally produced in long 

 pendant racemes ; but those of the 

 Epidendrums are erect, like those of 

 the Oncidiums. Most of the East 

 Indian species should always be 

 groAvn on wood, particularly Renna- \ 

 thera coccinea, and all kinds of I 

 Vdiida and Sarcdnihus ; and the ! 

 East Indian Dendrobiums, and the j 

 different species of £'ria. The \ 

 species of the genera Aerides and j 

 CceUgyne, however, though both are j 

 always found on trees in their native : 

 country, may, in England, be grown j 

 in pots, in turfy loam or chopped | 

 moss, or in baskets of moss. The ! 

 Stanhopeas and Catasetums should i 

 be grown in baskets of moss, or in | 

 pots hung from the rafters of the I 

 house, as their flowers proceed from 

 the roots, and hang downward ; but i 

 the Cattleyas, which have erect 

 flower-stems, are always grown in ; 

 pots. Where it is not convenient 

 to have pots hanging' from the raf- : 

 ters, the Stanhopeas must have a i 

 pile of pieces of turfy peat raised at 

 least six inches above the rim of the 

 pot, and the pseudo -bulbs must be 

 placed on the top ; as, unless this 

 is done, the flower-stem, when pro- 

 truded from the root, -will buiy 

 itself in the earth contained in the ] 

 pot, and the flov/ers v,-ill be unable j 

 to expand, though they will easily i 

 make their way through the loose | 

 pieces of turf. \Yhere this mode of 

 potting is adopted, slender pieces of 

 wood are generally passed at regular 

 distances through the pile of turf, 

 to keep the pieces in their place. 

 The Catasetums gi'ow in open parts 

 of the woods of the tropical regions 

 of South America, and one species 



is the celebrated Wourali Vine. 

 They all require great heat and 

 moisture, and when grown on wood 

 it should be on that of soft -barked 

 trees. 



Various expedients have been de- 

 vised to produce the shade supposed 

 necessaiy for some of the Orchideous 

 plants. The Orchideous-house has 

 been in some cases glazed with dark- 

 green or brownish glass, double sashes 

 have been used, and creeping plants 

 trained over the roof. None of these 

 plans, however, have jH-oved success- 

 ful ; as, though the plants thus treated 

 have grown rapidlj-, it has been to 

 produce leaves i-ather than flowers. 

 Whether it be that the plants in an 

 artificial state require moi'e light than 

 in theirnative woods, or whether the 

 British sun is so much feebler than 

 that they have been acustomed to, as 

 to render shading unnecessary, it is 

 certain that the Orchideous Epiphytes 

 in England require plenty of light, 

 and that they never flower well if 

 kept in comparative darkness. 



Another point that has puzzled 

 cultivators is to find out what kind 

 of wood is most suitable for those 

 kinds that are to be gi'own on 

 hanging branches. Mr. Henchman, 

 who collected Orchideaj on the 

 Spanish Main, asserts that he never 

 found an Orchideous plant on a 

 dead tree, whether standing or 

 fallen, though he found many spe- 

 cies of Oncidium, Catasetum, &c., 

 gro-wT.ng on the ground, as though 

 they had been accidentally dislodged 

 from the trees on which they had 

 gro-mi. He even observed that the 

 colour of the Oncidium vcq/dio was 

 much darker on the ground than it 

 was in its natural situation, on the 

 branches of a lofty tree. From his 

 finding no Orchidese on dead trees, 

 he \^as led to suppose that the 

 plants draw some kind of nourish- 

 ment from the trees on which they 



