OUO ORCHID- GEOWERS MANUAL. 



colour. The descriptive list subjoined comprises the best 

 sorts that we know. They are all evergreen, and compact in 

 habit, except E. cinnabarinum, E. crassifolium, E. radicans 

 [rhizophorum), and a few others, which are tall-growing, with 

 long slender stems, clothed with small distichous leaves from 

 top to bottom. The other sorts have short round pseudobulbs, 

 with long narrow leaves, except E. aurantiacum, E. bicornu- 

 tum, and E. Stamfordianum, which grow more in the way of 

 the Cattleyas, with upright pseudobulbs, having two or three 

 stout leaves on the top. They all produce their flowers from 

 the top of the stem or pseudobulb, except E. Stamfordianum, 

 in which they rise from the base. 



Orchid-growers have been more frequently deceived in 

 buying Epidendrums than any other group of these plants. 

 The pseudobulbs of many kinds are so nearly alike that it is 

 very difficult to tell what they really are until they flower, 

 which may not take place for several years, and then perhaps, 

 instead of being something good, they only produce dingy green 

 flowers of little or no beauty. Nevertheless, some of these 

 insignificant-flowered kinds are very fragrant, and will per- 

 fume the whole house in which they are grown. 



Culture. — These plants will all do in the Mexican house, 

 and may be grown on blocks of wood, but pot culture is the 

 best for the majority of the species. The drainage must be 

 perfect, and sphagnum moss and peat should be used for 

 potting in about equal parts. They require a season of rest, 

 with the same treatment as the Cattleyas, excepting that they 

 need less heat. They are propagated by dividing the plants, 

 as described in the chapter on Propagation. 



E. alatum, Batem. — A pretty species, producing its panicles 

 of flowers in June or July. The pseudobulbs are ovate, 

 bearing two ensate obtuse leaves, and the sweet-scented 

 flowers have the narrow sepals and petals greenish at the 



