22 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [8:1— Jan., 1912 



but it would be only a small part of the picture, for even in the 

 northern United States there are many orchids, not perhaps as 

 grotesque but often quite as beautiful as the most costly varieties 

 of the green house. During May and June the various lady's 

 slippers open their pink and yellow flowers, then in the swamps 

 the grass pink, the Arethusa and the little Calypso display the 

 exquisite shades of rose and purple, while later in the summer 

 there are spikes of white and purple and orange fringed-orchids, 

 and latest of all in the moist fields the sweet scented little white 

 lady's tresses spring up everywhere. Thus while orchids are 

 not abundant they are not vmcommon in our own woods and 

 fields. 



They are plants closely related to the lilies but possessing 

 flowers of more complicated structure and usually of irregular 

 form. In cool countries they grow in the soil, although even 

 there some of them have very few roots. But in tropical lands 

 they often fasten themselves to the branches of trees and allow 

 their roots to hang exposed to the humid atmosphere, absorbing 

 water from the almost daily rains. Plants growing thus 

 upon others but getting no nourishment from them are termed 

 "epiphytes." Orchids possess curious devices to ensure that 

 their pollen shall be carried from flower to flower by the insects 

 attracted by their bright colors and sweet odor. Their seeds 

 are the smallest known and look like small grains of dark brown 

 sand. Within a seed the future plant is packed away in embryo. 

 In many seeds the embryo is well organized, showing seed leaves 

 and a tiny stem with its terminal bud ; within the covering of 

 the orchid seed there is only a small rounded mass of cells with 

 a minute projection at one end. There is usually no trace of 

 seed leaves nor can the beginnings of a stem be seen. 



How these seeds grow in their native haunts no one knew, 

 and almost every attempt to germinate them in a garden or 

 greenhouse resulted only in failure. The most skillful gardeners 

 tried in vain to raise seedlings of their most beautiful varieties 

 but not a seed would germinate. At rare intervals some fortu- 

 nate man would succeed by sowing the seed near the parent plant, 

 but until a very few years ago the causes of success or failure 

 were shrouded in mystery, and many strange and mythical ex- 

 planations were offered. Very recently, however, a French 

 botanist has succeeded in discovering the secret and now orchid 

 seeds are grown in the greenhouse with much greater success. 



It has long been known that the roots of many, if not all. 

 of these curious plants are infested with a minute fungus some- 



