18 ORCHIDS. 
in the flower, is known as the /ade/lum, or lip (¢). This 
labellum is sometimes prolonged backwards at the base 
into a tail or spur, which usually contains honey; in the 
wonderful Angraecum sesquipedale of Madagascar this spur 
is more than rft. in length. We shall see, as we pro- 
ceed, something of the wonderful variety in form of this 
characteristic feature of an Orchid flower; and the accom- 
panying group of the blossoms of a few of our British 
Orchids (see Plate) will give some notion of its extent in 
the natives of our own woods and fields. The other remark- 
able point in the flower of an Orchid is the column (c). 
In most blossoms the stamens and pistils are separate 
organs; but in the Orchids these are consolidated into a 
central, waxy, often club-shaped body, which is known by 
the above name. Except in Cypripedium, only one of the 
anthers is developed. 
Orchids differ considerably in habit, in the form and 
character of the stem, and in the arrangement and con- 
figuration of the leaves. In habit there are the climbing 
Vanillas, the creeping Goodyeras; whilst some grow in 
reed-like tufts, others have an erect stem, with arching 
leaves, arranged in two regular rows on each side. 
Another group have no stem, but thick, fleshy leaves; and 
in others there is a creeping rhizome, from which stem-like 
growths are developed at intervals. These growths are 
what are known by the term pseudo-bulb. They are not 
stems, nor are they leaf-stalks, but they appear to be a 
sort of intermediate structure between the two. Usually 
only one pseudo-bulb is developed at the apex or growing 
point of each rhizome yearly, and this bears leaves either 
at its apex or all along its sides. From its top, or sides, 
or base, the flowers are developed, usually only once in 
the existence of each, sometimes for several consecutive 
years. In some genera the pseudo-bulbs are of only annual 
