family appears to be isolated and to claim no relationship with 

 the vegetation surrounding it. The most elementary student of 

 botany is familiar with the stamens and pistils that are usually so 

 prominent in flowers, though frequently more or less combined 

 amongst themselves. In the Orchids we get a remarkable 

 departure from this character, the stamens and pistils being 

 combined in one body, the column, quite unlike either. The 

 sepals and petals are usually both present, three of each ; but one 

 of the latter (the labellum) assumes a great variety of shapes, 

 frequently becomes much larger than the other parts, and is 



FIG. 2. ODONTOGLOSSUM ALEXANDRA (O. CRISPUM). 



generally the most prominent portion of the flower. In the 

 Dicotyledons we get some approach to both these conditions in 

 several families. The Asclepias and its relatives present, at first 

 glance, some resemblance to the column of the Orchids in the 

 staminal crown, but there is no direct cohesion between the 



