CHAPTER III. 



CLASSIFICATION. 



THE family of Orchids owes its chief peculiarities 

 to the following circumstances : 



Firstly, The consolidation of all the sexual organs into 

 one common mass, called the column. 



Secondly, The suppression of all the anthers, except 

 one, in the greater portion of the order, or two in the 

 tribe Cypripedetz. 



Thirdly, The peculiar condition of the pollen, and the 

 anther which contains it. 



Fourthly, The very general development of one of the 

 inner leaves of the perianth or petals in an excessive de- 

 gree, or in an unusual form. 



Many botanists have devoted special attention to this 

 family, of whom we may mention, Bateman, Brown, 

 Hooker, and Paxton in England ; Brongniart and Rich- 

 ard in France, Linden, in Belgium, and Reichenbach in 

 Leipsic ; but Dr. Lindley has paid more attention to 

 their nomenclature and arrangement, and his classifica- 

 tion, which we follow, has been generally adopted. 



These peculiarities of the order are in most cases very 

 striking, and are strongly manifested in the same flower ; 

 we also find the true nature of each part, indicated by 

 special cases of structure, occurring in different parts of 

 the order. 



Thus in Cypripedium, not only are two lateral stamens 



