70 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



for many years not one has ever been induced to flower. 

 The common species is M. umbellata, a native of Tropical 

 America. It is a good plant to serve the purpose of Ivy 

 under tropical conditions. 



CHAPTER XIV 

 CLIMBING ORCHIDS 



IT is remarkable that in an order of such magnitude as 

 Orchidaceae, with a very wide distribution and so rich in 

 species of epiphytic habit, there are very few species that 

 are climbers. Orchids have small, light seeds, which are 

 easily carried considerable distances by the wind and other 

 agencies, and they are thus naturally placed in suitable 

 positions for growth. Their clinging roots enable them to 

 fasten themselves firmly to the branches of trees, and as they 

 can obtain all the nourishment they require from the humus 

 collected in the fissures of the bark, or the dead cortical 

 layer of the bark itself and that provided by the atmosphere, 

 few have any occasion to climb. They are not quite so 

 dependent as, say, the Mistletoe, but they have very little 

 chance of prospering unless they can fasten on to the backs 

 of other stronger plants. A number of them so develop 

 fairly long stems, and so far as they go they behave like 

 climbers ; but their extended growth is in search of fresh 

 root-hold and not a struggle for a place in the sun. There 

 are, however, several genera which have a claim to a place 

 in a treatise on climbing plants, namely, Renanthera, 

 Vanda, and Vanilla. 



