HYDROCHARIDACEAE 307 



Bright orhs, that light yon high ethereal plain, 

 Or batfce your radiant tresses in the main; 

 Pale moon, that eilver'st o'er night's sable brow ; 

 For ye were witness to his parting vow ! 

 Ye shelving rocks, dark waves, and sounding shore, 

 Ye echoed sweet the tender words he swore ! 

 Can stars or seas the sails of love retain? 

 ! guide my wanderer to my arms again ! " 



My excellent Friend, E. I>URAND, has sent me the following Lines 

 by a French Poet and Botanist, which may be appropriately annexed 

 to the preceding : 



" Le Rhdne impgtueux, sous son onde Scumante, 

 Durant six mois entiers nous derobe une plante 

 Dont la tige s'allonge en la saison d'amour, 

 Monte au dessus des flots et brille aux yeux du jour. 

 Les males dans le fond jusqu'alors immobiles, 

 De leurs liens trop courts brisent les noeuds debiles, 

 Toguent vers leur amante, et libres dans leurs feux, 

 Lui forment sur le fleuve un cortege nombreux : 

 On diralt une fete ou le dieu d'hym6nee 

 Promene sur les flots sa pompe fortunSe ; 

 Mais les temps de Venus une fois accomplis, 



La tige se retire en rapprochant ses plis, 



Et va murir sous 1'eau sa sentence feconde." 



ORDER CV. ORCHIDACEAE. 



Perennial herbs ; roots often bulb- or tuber-bearing, sometimes fascicled, thick- 

 ened and fleshy ; stems or scapes mostly simple, often leafless or with mere sheaths ; 

 leaves alternate, parallel-nerved, entire, sheathing at base, often subradical and 

 crowded ; flowers perfect, irregular ; perianth adherent below to the ovary, the 

 lorder of 6 divisions, in 2 sets ; the 3 outer (sepals) of the same petal-like appear- 

 jmce as the 3 inner (petals), of which inner set, the upper, or posterior one hut, 

 by the twisting of the ovary, or peduncle, generally appearing to be the lower, or 

 anterior one differs more or less in shape or direction from the others, is often 

 spurred or appendaged, and is called the Up ; stamens normally 3, with but 1, or 

 rarely 2, perfect, gynandrous (i. e. adherent to the style, and forming together the 

 central column); potten either in waxy masses, or in loose granular, or mealy 

 clusters (pollinid) ; ovary 1-celled, with 3 parietal placentae ; fruit a valved cap- 

 sule ; seeds numerous, minute, resembling fine saw-dust, destitute of albumen. 



An Order comprising many curious and beautiful plants, the flowers often pre- 

 senting the most fantastic forms. The fragrant Vanilla, of the shops, is the fleshy 

 fruit of one or two West India species (Vanilla aromatica, and V. claviculata, of 



gWARTZ). 



DIVISION I. Anther single (the 2 lateral ones abortive). 



TRIBE I. MALAXID'EAE. 



Polkn cohering in definite (usually 4) waxy masses (pottinia'), without any caudi- 

 cle, or tail-like prolongation. 



21. Plants with leaves, and green ; sepals spreading; 



416. MICROS'TYMS, Nuttall. 



[Gr. micros, little, and stylos, a column ; from its slender central column.] 



Petals linear, filiform. Lip auriculate or hastate at base, not tuber- 

 culate. Column very email, terete, with 2 teeth, or auricles, at 



