VEGETATION. 85 



mostly growing on rocks and stems of trees under shade, and the 

 latter encircling the trunks of trees under full exposure to the 

 scorching sun of the lowest elevations up to 4,000 feet. Of the large 

 and more remarkable of the species growing on the ground, none 

 excel Poh/podiiim ornatum in beauty or elegance. Its fronds are some- 

 times small, but usually about six or seven feet long, and sometimes as 

 long as 20 feet and of proportionate width, but whether large or small 

 it is always an object of admiration. It hardly ascends over 4,000 

 feet elevation. 



The orchid family is also extensively represented in Sikhim, 

 there being from 350 to 400 species out of an estimated total of 5,000 

 for the whole world. Although none of the Sikhim orchids have 

 flowers equal in size or colour to many of the South American species, 

 yet several are hardly second in beauty or in popular estimation. 

 They may be divided into two classes, viz., the epiphytal, which 

 attach themselves to rocks and trees but do not derive any nourish- 

 ment from them, and the terrestrial, which grow on the ground. A 

 few are parasitical on roots of trees. In Sikhim the first-named class 

 is the more numerous and better known; and the more important of 

 its genera are Dendrobium, Ceslogyne, Ctjmhidium, Vanda, Arachnanike, 

 Saccohhium, brides, and Phalcvnopsis. Among the terrestrial sort 

 are Culanthe, Goodi/era, Pogonia, Ancectochilus, Arundina, Hahenaria., 

 Satyr iiim, Diphmeris, and Cypripedium ; and of the parasitical the most 

 notable are the Galeolus, which grow on the decaying roots of trees 

 and have flowering stems over six feet high. Their flowers are 

 yellow and the seed-pods not unlike those of the Vanilla. 



Perhaps the most popular genus of the orchid family in Sikhim 

 is Dendrohlum, of which there are about 40 species ; one-third of 

 them having large, showy flowers, and the remainder are mostly 

 pretty, but small and rather incoaspicuousl}' flowered. The best 

 known, and at the same time the finest, is nohilc, which is common 

 from 1,000 up to 5,000 feet, growing on trees and rocks. Its flowers 

 are borne on erect stems, and are variable in colour, but usually white, 

 broadly lipped with purple. Densijlorum, which grows at the same 

 altitudes, is equally common and has dense bunches of yellow flowers. 

 Calceolaria, the largest both in growth and in flower, of the Sikhim 

 Dendrobiums, smells strongly of Gregory's powder. Its flowers vary 

 in colour from white and pinkish to golden yellow, and the lip is 

 pouch-shaped. Amoeniim is common on trees from 3,000 to 4,000 feet 

 and is slender stemmed, with very numerous smallish flowers, white 

 tipped with violet and purple, and smelling strongly of violets. 

 Other showy Dendrobiums are JJookeriana, whose flowers are golden 

 yellow with a deeply fringed lip spotted with purple ; cJtrysantkum^ 

 Gilsonii, Ruckeri, and. Jimhriaium, all also yellow, and amplum^ Farnieri^ 



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