PERISTERIA. 397 
growths gain strength. When the pots are full of roots, 
an occasional dose of weak liquid manure is to be 
recommended. During rest they may be removed to the 
cooler part of the Cattleya-house, very little water being 
then needed. P. elata is very successfully grown by 
some cultivators, who treat it as a purely terrestrial 
Orchid, potting it in a mixture of loam and leaf-mould, 
with a sprinkling of crushed bones and silver-sand added. 
The pots are plunged in a tan bed in a moist, sunny stove 
during the growing season. When growth is complete, the 
plants are removed to a shelf in an intermediate house, 
and given less water; they should not, however, be allowed 
to get dry. Bulbs as large as swans’ eggs, and flower- 
spikes 5ft. high, have been produced by this treatment. 
Peristerias are easy to keep alive, but unless they get 
very liberal treatment they will not flower. 
Fig. 96. Peristeria cerina, showing Habit and detached Flowers 
(Habit, much reduced; Flowers, nat. size). 
P. cerina.—A handsome species, having large flowers in 
pendent spikes, and with a strong smell like that of bruised 
