144 EPIDENDRUM CONOPSEUM. BARTRAM S TREE-ORCHIS. 



thence westward. It has no common name, that we know of, 

 and we have, therefore, called it " Bartram's Tree-Orchis," in 

 commemoration of the name of its first discoverer. Our plate 

 shows the curious manner in which the plant grows, not point- 

 ing up towards the sky, as other plants are wont to do, but 

 shooting out laterally, almost at a right angle with the tree or 

 other object by which it is supported. 



We may add, in conclusion, that the name of the genus will 

 sometimes be found spelled Epidendron. Linnaeus, who, as we 

 have seen, named the genus, originally used the prevalent ox- 

 \hogY2ip\\y, Epideiid)aini ; but in his " Hortus Cliffortianus " he 

 adopted the more elegant, and perhaps more correct form, 

 Epidendron. Good writers often follow him in this, but the 

 general rule is to take the name as first published with a 

 description, and, unless for some very cogent reason, it is not 

 advisable to make a change. With flowers, more than with 

 anything else, " a name is but a name," and some of the earlier 

 botanists, as, for instance, Milne, in his Botanical • Dictionary, 

 have written whole chapters to show that names which really 

 have no meaning at all are much less misleading than those 

 which are more expressive. 



Explanation of the Plate. — i. The complete plant attached to the bark, and flowering 

 from the growth of last year (from a plant in the Arnold Arboretum of the Bussey Insti- 

 tute, under Mr. Dawson's care). — 2. Old aerial root, showing a crimped epiderm. — 

 3. Newly forming aerial root. 



