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Most of our British Orchids were known to the old herbalists, 

 Parkinson and Gerarde, and by them were described or figured ; 

 but in their time no exotic species were to be seen in English 

 gardens, though botanists very soon afterwards began to have a 

 knowledge of some of the East and West Indian Orchids. It 

 was, however, very imperfect, and it was not until Linnaeus 

 published his " Species Plantarum," in 1763, that an approach to 

 an accurate idea either of their number or characters could be 

 obtained. Ninety-one species were enumerated in that work, 

 and all the epiphytal orchids then known were placed in the 

 genus Epidendium, At that time there were only four exotic 

 species in cultivation in England, namely Cypripedium parvi- 

 florum, 1759; C. spectabile, 1731; Vanilla aromatica, 1739; and 

 Bletia verecunda, 1731 ; and these were probably known in 

 very few gardens, though they were all grown by Philip Miller, 

 in the Apothecaries' Garden, at Chelsea. Four years previously, 

 namely, in 1759, Mr. W. Aiton, one of Mr. Miller's pupils, was 

 appointed to the charge of the Botanical Gardens, at Kew, and 

 a catalogue of the plants published by Dr. Hill, in 1768, showed 

 that the collection was fast becoming of importance, and this 

 was still further confirmed by Mr. Alton's " Hortus Kewensis," 

 which appeared in 1789. Previous to 1780, in addition to those 

 already named, only the following had been introduced : Bletia 

 Tankervillias, China, 1778, Dr. J. Fothergill ; Epidendrum fragrans, 

 subsequently figured as E. cochleatum, in the " Botanical Mag- 

 azine, "plate 152, Jamaica, 1778, Francis Goldney; E. conopseum, 

 Florida, 1775, Dr. J. Fothergill ; Malaxis liliifolia, North America, 

 1758, Peter Collinson, and Calopogon pulchellus, North America, 

 1771, William Malcom. As far as can be judged from these 

 records, and some additional evidence furnished by an old work 

 by Martyn, the first exotic orchid that was introduced to 

 England was Bletia verecunda, which was sent over to Mr. 

 Collinson, about 1731, as a dried specimen, but the tubers being 

 planted, grew and flowered. Cypripedium spectabile, or album, as 

 it was also called, however, appears to have been in cultivation 

 about the same time or very shortly afterwards, In the next 

 twenty years several species were brought to this country, chiefly 

 through the means of Sir Joseph Banks, and the total number in 

 cultivation, including native species, had increased to about 50. 

 These included the first introduction of the firm, Messrs. Loddiges, 

 Cymbidium aloifolium (1786) ; and the now well known Aerides 

 odoratum (1809). A botanical work by Persoon, a few years 

 later, enumerated several hundred species of Orchids as known 

 to science, but the cultivated species did not keep space with 

 their rapid increase, as the second edition of the Hortus Kewensis, 

 published in 1813, only gives the names of 118 as comprised in 

 that collection. By 1826, however, the number had advanced to 



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