EPIDENDRUM COXOPSEUM. BARTRAM S TREE-DRrHIS. I 43 



duccd tree, known tliroughout the Soutli as " I'lidc of India," 

 or "China-Tree," and tlie transplanting of the Epidcndnim to 

 this foreign tree, in a locahty where the Magnolia is so connnon, 

 can have had no other object than to test the question ulKther 

 or not the plant would do well on any kind of a tree. 



During and before Muhlenberg's time the idea seems to have 

 been prevalent that the Epidcndruin and some of its allies were 

 parasites. Dr. Pfeiffer, in his " Nomenclator Hotanicus," says 

 the name Epideiidrum, signifying " upon a tree," was given to 

 this plant by Linnreus in 1737, "quia sit herba parasitica" 

 (because it is a parasitic herb). \ true jiarasite, however, is 

 a plant which is not only supported, or held up Ijy a tree or 

 other plant, but which actually draws some of its nourishment 

 from the organism upon which it grows. But tliis is not the 

 case with our species. It is, indeed, supported jjy the tree on 

 which it grows, but only mechanically, as it gets most of its 

 nutrition from the atmosphere. We say purposely " most of its 

 nutrition," for although the Epidcudni)iis are called "air-plants," 

 it is not strictly accurate to say that they draw wholly upon the 

 atmosphere for their food. If a quantity of these plants be 

 burned, certain mineral salts will be found in the ashes, which 

 are not known to exist in the atmosphere, and of which it is not 

 yet quite clear how the plants become possessed of them. 



Additional evidence that our Epidcndriim conopscuni is not a 

 true parasite is furnished by the manner in which the plant can 

 be kept under cultivation. All that is necessary is to tie it to a 

 block of wood, together with a little moss, and to hang it up in 

 a convenient place, where it can get water occasionally, as any 

 other plants that maybe around it are watered. In winter it can 

 be hung up in a green-house, or in a window in anv room or 

 place where it will be protected against the frost. The writer of 

 this has found that the plant will thrive lustily under such cir- 

 cumstances. 



According to Prof. Wood the 'EpidoidruDi conopsciim grows 

 in damp woods, from South Carolina down to Florida, and 



