218 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



was accompanied by a young lady passionately fond of 

 flowers, and both were charmed beyond expression with 

 the orchid. But the collector could not be prevailed 

 upon to part with it ; it was unique in Europe and 

 was beyond price. He was not proof, however, against 

 the munificence of the duke, who placed a pocketbook 

 well filled with bank notes in the hands of the aston- 

 ished horticulturist and walked off in triumph with 

 his prize. 



The terrestrial orchid is a native of Panama, and 

 a bulbous-looking plant. From the base of the tree 

 a pale green, almost white, articulate flower spike 

 shoots up and rises to the height of four or five feet, the 

 upper portion forming a raceme of pure white, waxy 

 flowers, sometimes as many as twenty in number. 

 Each flower, waxy and pure white, is nearly circular, 

 about two inches in diameter, and in the centre the 

 column pollen masses with erect wings are so beauti- 

 fully combined as to bear a remarkable resemblance 

 to a dove of purest wing, having the wings faintly 

 spotted with lilac. In its native land this Dove 

 Flower, as the English call it, is known as El Espir- 

 itu Santo, and regarded with superstitious reverence as 

 a religious symbol at which no one who has ever seen 

 the flower will feel the least surprise. 



Its only rival is the famous Butterfly Flower (Onci- 

 drium papiteo) from the verdant island of Trinidad. 

 This is an epiphyte or true air-plant, growing on the 

 trunks or branches of trees, to which it attaches itself 

 with great firmness by a network of fibrous and thread- 

 like roots, but entirely nourished by the atmosphere. 



