4 ON THE CULTURE OF ORCHIDEOUS PLANTS. 



The term Orchidese is often used by persons who scarcely un- 

 derstand the application of it in some particulars. Dr. Lindley's 

 Introduction to Botany contains the following observations on 

 what are — 



" Parasitical Plants ; — that is to say, such as are either desti- 

 tute of the power of pumping up their nourishment from the soil, 

 or of elaborating it completely ; or as cannot exist without absorb- 

 ing juices of other vegetables. These are found in all the pre- 

 ceding stations. They may be divided into, first, those which 

 grow on the surface of others, as the Cuscuta and Misletoe ; and, 

 secondly, intestinal parasites," which are developed in the interior 

 of living plants, and pierce the epidermis to make their appearance 

 outwardly, such as the Uredo and JEcidium. 



" Epiphytes, or false Parasites, are such as grow upon either 

 dead or living vegetables, without deriving any nourishment from 

 them. This class, which has often been confounded with the pre- 

 ceding, has two distinctly characterised divisions. The first, 

 which approaches true parasites, comprehends cryptogamous 

 plants, the germs of which, probably earned to their stations by 

 the very act of vegetation, develope themselves at the period when 

 the plant, or that part where they lie, begins to die, then feed 

 upon the substance of the plant during its mortal throes, and fatten 

 upon it after its disease ; such are Nemasporus, and many Sphae- 

 rias ; these are spurious intestinal parasites. The second com- 

 prehends those vegetables, whether cryptogamic, such as lichens 

 and Musci, or phanerogamous, as Epidendrums, which live upon 

 living plants, without deriving any nutriment from them, but ab- 

 sorbing moisture from the surrounding atmosphere ; these are 

 superficial false parasites : many of them will grow upon rocks, 

 dead trees, or earth." 



Having thus premised with some general observations, I shall 

 continue my remarks of a practical kind, by treating of some of 

 the handsomest kinds in general cultivation. 



Stanhopea. — All the species of this genus have not only hand- 

 some flowers, but are very fragrant. The flowers are produced 

 upon pendent stems. In order to allow them to hang over the 

 sides of the pots, it is necessary to watch them, and lead the end 

 of the shoot, when visible, to a proper direction ; if this is not 

 attended to, the stem will often force itself against the side of the 



