Bateman^s Orchidaceco. 511 



" The Orchidacese of each of the three great divisions of the globe have 

 features of their own, so marked and peculiar, that, in most cases, a practised 

 eye would have little difficulty in referring even a totally new form to its pro- 

 per habitation. Thus, for example, the pendent stems and graceful flowers 

 of many of the dendrobiums, ajrides, and their allies, give a character of 

 beauty and lightness to the orchidaceous flora of tropical India, which con- 

 trasts most strongl}' with the clumsy pseuilol)idbs of the bolbophyllums, or the 

 long tails of the angraecums of Africa. Again, in America, the characteristic 

 features are, the upright vegetation (as distinguished from the pendent) of the 

 epidendrums, the long straggling flower-spikes of many of the oncidiums, 

 and a much greater variety of grotesque and marvellous forms than is to be 

 met with in any part of the Old World. 



" The uses to which the plants of this family are applied are few ; but, in 

 several instances, highly romantic. In Demerara, that most dreadful of all 

 poisons, the ' Wourali,' is thickened by the juice of the catasetunis j and, in 

 Amboyna, the true ' Elixir of Love,' is prepared from the minute farina-like 

 seeds of the Grammatophyllum speciosum, which plant has just been received 

 in England, in a living state, from Mr. Gumming. We tremble for the conse- 

 quences, if what Rumphius says of its properties be true; asserting, as he 

 does, ' Mulierem prosequi amore talem, a quo banc farinam cum cibo, vel 

 potu, accepit ! ' In Mexico, where the ' language of flowers ' is understood by 

 all, the Orchidaceae seem to compose nearly the entire alphabet. Not an infant 

 is baptised, not a marriage is celebrated, nor a funeral obsequy performed, at 

 which the aid of these flowers is not called in by the sentimental natives, to 

 assist the expression of their feelings. They are offered by the devotee at the 

 shrine of his favourite saint; by the lover, at the feet of his mistress; and by 

 the sorrowing survivor, at the grave of his friend ; whether, in short, on fast 

 days or feast days, on occasions of rejoicing, or in moments of distress, these 

 flowers are sought for with an avidity which would seem to say that there was 

 no sympathy like theirs ; — thus ' Flor de los Santos,' * Flor de Corpus,' ' Flor de 

 los Muertos,' ' Flor de Maio,' ' No me Elvides ' (or forget me not), are but a 

 few names out of the many that might be cited to prove the high consider- 

 ation in which our favourites are held in the New World. Nor are these the 

 only honours that are paid to them; for Hernandez assures us that, in Mexico, 

 the Indian chiefs set the very highest value on their blossoms, for the sake of 

 their great beauty, strange figure, and delightful perfume; while, in the East 

 Indies, if Rumphius is to be creditetl, the flowers themselves positively refuse 

 to be worn, except by princesses or ladies of high rank. In Honduras, again, 

 the large, hollow, cylindrical stalks of a fine species of Epidendrum are made 

 into trumpets by the little boys and girls of the country ; and tlie pseudo- 

 bulbs of several of the more succulent species are used instead of resin for 

 the strings of their guitars. The following are, however, almost the only 

 known instances in which the tribe do any direct service to mankiml. The 

 bulbs of Maxillaria bicolor contain a large quantity of an insipid watery fluid, 

 which is greedily sucked by the poor natives of Peru in the dry season. 

 A fluid of a similar nature is obtained from what is probably a laelia in Mexico, 

 and is administered as a cooling draught in fevers. From the roots of some of 

 the orchises, even in Europe, the nutritive substance called ' salep ' is ob- 

 tained ; in New Zealand, certain species are of considerable importance as 

 esculents; and, in Guiana, the soles of the shoemaker are much indebted to 

 the viscid matter obtained from the catasetums and cyrtopodiums, as are 

 the poisoned arrows of the Indian. In this list the vanilla is not included, 

 as that plant has recently been separated (no doubt, most judiciously) by Dr. 

 Lindley from the natural order Orchidaceas, and constituted the type of a 

 new order of its own." (page 3.) 



" If the Orchidaceae have few uses," continues Mr. Bateman, 

 "they yield us pleasure of an intellectual kind, and so intense 



