i8 



the last named having a most agreeable perfume in the morning, 

 but less pleasant towards evening. 



The flowers are borne in spikes, racemes, or panicles, and are 

 sometimes produced singly on a stem, arising from the roots or 

 pseudo-bulb. In the spike the flowers are disposed along a main 

 stalk, and have no secondary support ; in the racemes, the flowers 

 are furnished with small stalks (pedicels), and the panicle is 

 simply a branched raceme. Phalaenopsis Luddemanniana and 

 a few others produce young plants upon their flower stems, which 

 may be separated and grown like the parents. Owing to the wax- 

 like substance of many flowers, they last an extremely long time, 

 and Lycaste Skinneri is remarkable in this respect, for plants 

 have been had in flower for three or four months. Cypripedium 

 insigne also lasts for a considerable time, and flowers when cut 

 from the plant will continue fresh for three weeks or more in an 

 ordinary room. Cymbidium Lowianum similarly affords an extra- 

 ordinary instance of durability, for a fine specimen in Mr. Cobb's 

 garden, Silverdale Lodge, Sydenham, in 1883, opened its flowers 

 on December 26th, and the same plant was shown in excellent 

 condition at the Royal Botanic Society's Show, June i8th, 1884. 



Referring to the parts of the flowers more in detail, the sepals 

 and petals first require a few words of description. In most cases 

 these are alike, and in some, as in Oncidium tigrinum (Fig. 10), 

 they are quite similar in form, colour, and markings. In other 

 instances they are more or less dissimilar, as in the Cypripedium 

 (Fig. i). In that, it will be seen there is a broad uppermost 

 organ termed the dorsal sepal, and behind the lip is seen what is 

 apparently another of a like character; upon examination, how- 

 ever, it will be found that this is really composed of two sepals united 

 by their inner margins, and a similar combination is observed in 

 other orchids. The petals in the Cypripedium are disposed upon 

 each side of the lip, and this is their usual position, but in a few 

 genera, both these and the lips are hidden within the sepals, as 

 in some forms of Masdevallia (Fig. n), or are so small as to be 

 unnoticeable. In one curious orchid, Cryptostylis sanguinea, the 

 sepals form a close tube with the points slightly recurved. 



In Cypripedium caudatum a peculiar character is observed ; 

 the petals, which at the opening of the flowers are small, grad- 

 ually lengthen until they are sometimes more than two feet long, 

 and pendulous, like narrow ribbons. This was first observed by 

 Mrs. Lawrence, who examined the flowers carefully, each day 

 measuring the petals as they grew, with the following result : 

 when the flower opened they were fin. long, on the second day 

 they grew 3fin., on the third day, 4in., on the fourth day, 4^in., 

 and on the fifth day, S^in., the total length attained in four days 

 being thus lyfin. In Cypripedium caricinum and Uropedium 

 Lindeni a somewhat similar growth has been also observed. The 



