The Culture of Greenhouse Orchids 



TRICHOSMA. 

 (Three parts referring to the lip.) 



This genus has but one species, T. suavis (sweet), 

 a charming flower always, but few know how charm- 

 ing it may be. Once upon a time I saw a small 

 pot with six spikes nothing extraordinary in that. 

 But each of them, nine inches high or so, had two 

 or three branches, forming a canopy of bloom 

 above the leaves. It was a revelation, but unique, 

 as revelations are in these days. Nothing like it 

 has been vouchsafed to me since. 



But T. suavis is exquisitely pretty under all 

 circumstances. It has no pseudo-bulbs. The leaves 

 push up in a spiral scroll, and expand at the tip 

 of a slender stem six inches high or more one 

 on either side ; between them the spike rises, 

 bearing three to six flowers if it be not strong 

 enough to branch ; in that case, it will carry eight 

 or ten, or, as in the notable instance mentioned, 

 as many as sixteen. They are of good size, cream 

 white, but the side lobes of the labellum those 

 parts which, folding over, make a tube are daintily 

 striped with brown. The aromatic scent is very 

 strong. 



This plant must be grown and treated like 

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