REVIEW. 



289 



The Orchidacece of Mexico and Guatemala.— By James Bate- 

 man, Esq. Part I. Imp. folio. Kidgway and Sons, London, 

 1837. 



The 1st. Part of this splendid work has appeared, (one of which 

 we borrowed) 120 copies have been printed, and it is highly 

 gratifying to learn that about eighty of them have been subscribed 

 for. And the others will doubtlessly soon be bought up, when 

 the copies of the subscribers are perused. In the introductory 

 remarks the Author notices the great extent of this noble family 

 of plants, and observes : — 



" Asia, Africa, and America will, perhaps, be found to divide the species 

 of the order amongst them into three nearly equal proportions (lor the tew 

 which Europe pi oduces need scarcely be taken into the account); and the 

 closer we approach the tropics, the more numerous and beautilul they be- 

 come. Arrived, at length, within the precincts of the torrid zone, we find 

 them no longer* prone on the ground,' as heretofore, but conspicuous on 

 the branches of the most rugged trees of the dampest and wildest forests, 

 attracting the eye of the naturalist from afar, by the dazzling brilliancy ot 

 their colours, or arresting his attention by their delicious fragrance. And 

 here we must take occasion to observe, that, although plants of this descrip- 

 tion are not unfrequently termed ' parasitic,' the epithet is altogether misap- 

 plied ; for, while the parasites prey upon the vital juices of their victims, and 

 perish with them, the ' epiphytes ' derive nothing but their stay, or local 

 habitation, from the plants on which they bave established themselves: and 

 continue to flourish and flower, indifferent whether their supporters live or die. 

 The great majority of the Orchidacea? of the tropics belong to the latter, or 

 epiphytic, class ; there are, however, a few that do not, as was long ago ob- 

 served by the same ingenious Rumphius to whom we have already had 

 occasion to advert. After noticing, in terms of due commendation, the 

 dignified habits of most of the tribe, he proceeds, with a sigh, to remark that 

 ' among- these vegetable nobles, just as among the nobles of mankind, some 

 degenerate individuals are ever to be found, who are on the ground always, 

 and seem to constitute a class of their own.' But it is not merely in their 

 habits that the terrestrial species are placed below the epiphytes, they ar.. 

 also greatly inferior to them in singularity and beauty. 



"The OrchidaceEe of each of the three great divisions of the globe have 

 features of their own, so marked and peculiar, that, in most cases, a practised 

 eye would have little difficulty in referring even a totally new form to its pro- 

 per habitation. Thus, for example, the pendent stems and graceful flowers 

 of many of the dendrobiunis, ferides, and their allies, give a character ol 

 beauty and lightness to the orchidaceous flora of tropical India, which con- 

 trasts most strongly with the clumsy pseudobulhs of the bolbophyllums, or the 

 long tails of the angraecums of Africa. Again, in America, the characteristic 

 features are, the upright vegetation (as distinguished from the pendent) ot 

 the epidendrums, the long straggling flower-spikes of many of the oncidiums, 

 a id a much greater variety of grotesque and marvellons forms than is to bo 

 met with in any part of the Old World. 



" The uses to which the plants of this family are applied arc few ; but, in 

 several instances, highly romantic. In Deiueraia, that most dreadful "I all 

 poisons, the ' Wourah,' is thickened by the juice of the catasetums ; and .in 

 Amboyna, the true ' Elixir of Love,' is prepared from the minute farina-like 

 Is of the Grammatephyllum speciosum, which plant has just been received 

 In England, in a living state, from Mr. Camming. We tremble for theconBe- 

 quences, if what Rumphiaa says of its properties be true ; asserting, a« he 

 does, ' Mulierem prosequi amore talem, a quo banc farinnm cum cibo, vel 

 \ r i-r,. v. i i 



