180 



ORCHID ACEiE. 



[Endogens. 



zone, and in climates remarkable for dryness. In Europe, Asia, and North America, they 

 are seen growing everywhere, in groves, in marshes, and in meadows ; in the drier 

 parts of Africa they are either rare or unknown ; at the Cape of Good Hope they 

 abound in similar situations as in Europe ; but in the hot damp parts of the West and 

 East Indies, in Madagascar, and the neighbouring islands, m the damp and numid 

 forests of Brazil, in the warm mild parts of Central America, and Western Mexico, 

 in the damp tropical parts of India, and on the lower mountains of Nipal, the Orchida- 

 ceous plants flourish in the greatest variety and profusion, no longer seeking their 

 nutriment from the soil, but clinging to the trunks and limbs of trees, to stones and 

 bare rocks, where they vegetate among ferns and other shade-loving plants, in countless 

 thousands. Of the epiphytal class, one only is found so far north as South Carolina, 

 growing upon the branches of the Magnolia, if we except the species from Japan, a 

 country which has a climate peculiar to itself, among regions m the same parallel of 

 latitude The most southern stations are those of Earina mucronata m New Zealand, 

 in lat 35° S and of Gunnia australis in Emu Bay, Van Diemen's Land, lat. 41° S. 

 Ample details respecting their distribution in Australia are given by A. Cunningham 

 in the Botanical Register for 1843 i. 37. . . 



It often happens that those productions of nature which charm the eye with their 

 beauty, and delight the senses with their perfume, have the least relation to the wants 

 of mankind, while the most powerful virtues or most deadly poisons are hidden beneath 

 a in,:in and insigniflcant exterior : thus Orchids, beyond their beauty, can scarcely 

 be said to be of known utility, with a few exceptions. The nutritive substance called 

 Salep has been prepared from' the subterraneous succulent 

 roots of Orchis mascula and many others of the Ophreous 

 division ; and in India from the tubers of a species of 

 Eulophia ; it consists almost entirely of a chemical prin- 

 ciple called Bassorin. The root of Bletia verecunda is 

 said to be stomachic. Some of the South American 

 species, such as the Catasetums, Cyrtopodiums, &c., contain 

 a viscid juice, which being inspissated by boiling, becomes 

 a kind of vegetable glue used for economical purposes in 

 Brazil. The viscidity of the tuber of Aplectrum hyemale is 

 such that it is called Putty-root in the United States, and 

 is used for cementing broken earthenware. 



Other medical qualities have been assigned to other 

 species, but they seem to be of no importance ; thus, Are- 

 thusa bulbosa is employed in the United States in tooth- 

 ache and bringing tumours to a head, Spiranthes diuretica 

 as a diuretic in Chile, where also Chloraea disoidesis fancied 

 to promote the flow of milk. Cypripedium pubescens is 

 used in North America as a substitute for Valerian, C. 

 guttatum in Siberia against epilepsy. Vanilla is one of the 

 most delightful aromatics known ; it is used in the manu- 

 facture of chocolate, of liqueurs, and of various articles 

 of confectionery. The substance called by this name in the shops is the dried fruit of 

 Vanilla planifolia, and other species ; it contains a great quantity of essential oil, and a 

 good deal of benzoic acid. Dr. Bird says that the effluvium of Vanilla intoxicates the 

 labourer who gathers it. — Peter Pilgrim, 1. 234. See Linncca. 4. 573, for some account 

 of the cultivation of the plant in Mexico. Vanilla claviculata is bitter as well as fragrant, 

 and its leaves are regarded in the West Indies, where it is called Liane a blessures, as 

 a vulnerary, and antisypliilitic. In New Holland many species are eaten by the natives, 

 who find their starchy roots a good article of diet. Mr. Backhouse describes the 

 Gastrodia sesamoides as having a root like a series of kichiey potatoes, terminating in a 

 branched, thick mass of coral-like fibres. It is eaten by the aborigines of Tasmannia, 

 ami is sometimes called native potato ; but its tubers are watery and insipid. 



I'. Browne states that the conn of Bletia verecunda is "bitterish and attended by a 

 clamminess that leaves a light prickly warmth behind it ; but this wears off soon, 

 leaving the palate free from every sensation but that of the bitter. When dried it may 

 be used with great propriety as a stomachic." According to Sir R. Schomburgk the 

 expressed juice of Epidendrum bifidum is a purgative, taken in doses of a table 

 spoonful at a time ; it is also reckoned in Tortola an anthelmintic, and diuretic, &c. 

 — Limmcea, ix. 512. 



Fig. CXX1V. 



\"\\. CXXIV. —Orchis mascula roots in the state in which they are dried as salep. 



