CHAPTER XXVI. 



THE GENUS CYRTOPODIUM. 



This genus belongs to the terrestrial tribe of 

 Orchidece, producing bulbous stems upwards of 

 three feet long, the leaves being placed alter- 

 nately up them, and the flowers produced on 

 spikes from the base of the stems: the species 

 C. punctatum is said to produce a flower spike 

 fourteen feet long, bearing from four hundred 

 to five hundred flowers; this strength has only- 

 been produced in its native country, which is the 

 West India islands. 



They should be grown in pots of sufficient size 

 according to that of the plant : and the time most 

 proper for potting is when they commence a new 

 growth. The compost 1 use for them consists of 

 sphagnum, leaf-mould, and turfy loam, in equal 

 parts, with a few small potsherds mixed together, 

 with a sufficient drainage in the pot to carry off 

 the water, of which they require a very liberal 

 supply: when they are beginning to produce fresh 

 roots from the shoots they are at present making, 

 they will require another shifting into a larger 



