HOT ORCHIDS. 167 
more sunshine than they can get in our climate. 
Amateurs do not seem to be so well acquainted 
with the grand things of this genus as they should 
be. They distrust all imported Epidendrums. 
Many worthless species, indeed, bear a perplexing 
resemblance to the finest; so much so, that the 
most observant of authorities would not think of 
buying at the auction-room unless he had confi- 
dence enough in the seller’s honesty to accept his 
description of a “lot.” Gloriously beautiful, how- 
ever, are some of those rarely met with; easy to 
cultivate also, in a sunny place, and not dear. 
Epid. rhizophorum has been lately rechristened 
Epid. radicans—a name which might be confined 
to the Mexican variety. For the plant recurs in 
Brazil, practically the same, but with a certain 
difference. The former grows on shrubs, a true 
epiphyte; the latter has its bottom roots in the 
soil, at foot of the tallest trees, and runs up to the 
very summit, perhaps a hundred and fifty feet. 
The flowers also show a distinction, but in effect 
they are brillant orange-red, the lip yellow, edged 
with scarlet. Forty or fifty of them hanging in a 
cluster from the top of the raceme make a show 
to remember. Mr. Watson “saw a plant a few 
years ago, that bore eighty-six heads of flowers !” 
They last forthree months. zd. prismatocarpum, 
