HARDY ORCHIDS 117 



native habitats, makes one long for a closer acquaintance with 

 them. Never shall I forget one spring morning on the Appian 

 Way, when the grassy borders of the wide Roman road were 

 bright with patches of C. papilionacea a painted beauty, not 

 to be confounded with our modest white butterfly Habenaria 

 and bee-and-spider-like Ophrys of various species, and the 

 delight of gathering new kinds amongst them. A mental 

 note was registered on the spot that the next venture in cold 

 house experiment, when opportunity offered, might well be 

 on some of these quaint and lovely plants. For here I must 

 confess that I am about to trench on the cultural experience 

 of others, rather than on my own ; yet knowing, by ocular 

 demonstration, how much may be done in this direction, it 

 seems better not to leave out entirely so important a group. 



It is quite possible to procure, both from foreign and 

 English dealers, tubers and roots of the most desirable species 

 of terrestrial Orchis, African and American as well as 

 European. The chief difficulty is to make sure of their having 

 been collected at the right season a too frequent source of 

 failure. Most of this class will do well in deep pans, in light, 

 turfy loam, alternating as to quarters between a cold frame in 

 summer, and a greenhouse in winter from which, for the half 

 hardy kinds, frost is just excluded. One reason why the 

 interesting South European Orchises are hard to cultivate 

 satisfactorily in our climate out of doors seems to be the same 

 that often arises with bulbous Iris and other alpine plants 

 growth begins too early, and they cannot stand the crippling 

 alternations of frost and thaw. This trouble is overcome 

 where such plants can be given the shelter of a cold house. 



The fine Madeiran Orchis foliosa is well known, and is a 

 robust and very ornamental plant for the unheated greenhouse. 

 It grows to a height of 18 in. and upwards, and the hand- 

 some spikes vary in colour from a deep shade of purple to 

 pale rosy-lilac. Being one of the easiest to manage, and 



