ORCHIDS. 



Probably no one except a few professional botanists knows 

 that there are at present no less than twenty-two species of native, 

 epiphytic Orchids known in the State of Florida. Some of these 

 are beautiful while all are strange and interesting. Nearly all of 

 these are natives of the West Indies or Tropical America, and it 

 is probable that they were introduced, for the most part, into 

 South Florida during late geological time by birds, winds, and, 

 it may be, on floating vegetation carried on the Gulf Stream. 



There are nine species of Epidendrum known in the state, 

 most of which have no beauty, as the Epidendrums are called 

 the weeds among Orchids. However, E. cochleatum has odd 

 purple and yellow flowers that remind one a little of those of a 

 pansy. E. nocturnum has spidery white blossoms and E. tarn- 

 pense has really pretty flowers of purple, greenish and white 

 with sometimes yellowish or chocolate tints. 



Cyrtopodium punctatum is a noble Orchid, sometimes forming 

 immense clumps, the stems and numerous rather large flowers 

 being greenish yellow barred with brown red ; a large plant may 

 carry as many as 300 blossoms at a time. There are three species 

 of the genus Dendrophylax in lower Florida, one of which, D. 

 lindeni, with leafless stems and handsome, large, satiny blossoms, 

 usually grows on the trunks of royal palms. Oncidium luridum 

 is a magnificent Orchid with large, thick leaves, and stems of 

 flowers which sometimes reach a length of ten feet. The color 

 of the blossoms is lurid, greenish yellow barred and blotched with 

 red or red brown, O. sphacellatum is an epiphytal Orchid in Cuba 

 but here it is more or less terrestrial, growing on pine land in the 

 edges of swamps or rarely in hammocks. The flowers are yellow 

 and quite attractive. Besides the above there is a Macradenia, 

 an lonopsis, a Polystachya and a Brassia, the latter only just dis- 

 covered in our region. This strange plant, B. caudata, is a native 

 of Cuba and has curious spider-like greenish yellow blossoms. 

 We have two Vanillas which climb trees by means of aerial roots 

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