92 Nature and Habits of Orchids. 



We should, however, err, did we suppose that the principal haunts of 

 orchids are the deep, shady woods. It is even probable that just the con- 

 trary is the fact, and that the cases just cited are extreme. 



Orchids are chiefly found on the borders of the forests, or in the open 

 glades or savannas : it is seldom they are met with in the primitive forests. 

 They are veiy abundant in Brazil near Rio Janeiro, in Mexico, in Colom- 

 bia, in Trinidad, especially in mountainous places and damp woods ; in 

 the East Indies, in Java, Ceylon, Nepaul, and China, where they are prin- 

 cipally found in the woods, on the borders of rivers and mountain-streams. 

 The localities of orchids are very marked : of some species, only a single 

 habitat is known ; many are exceedingly rare ; some only being known to 

 botany by a single dried specimen in an herbarium ; and others once known 

 in our hot-houses are now lost to cultivation. Some species now in cultivation 

 have sprung from a single imported plant. The orchids of the Eastern and 

 Western Hemispheres are entirely different, there being no affinity between 

 them. Orchids are also most capricious in their locations : sometimes 

 a river may be ascended for miles, and not an orchid be seen ; when, on a 

 sudden turn of the stream, every tree becomes covered with them. The 

 part of the tree on which they live is also uncertain : some are found close 

 to the ground, others a few feet high, others in the forks of the trunk and 

 branches ; some only on the trunk, others only on the branches ; and many 

 only on the topmost branches of the loftiest trees, so high that they are 

 only discoverable by their delicious perfume. 



Some varieties will only thrive when grown on the lower side of a block, 

 their native growth being on the under side of a branch : of these the fine 

 yellow cattleya (C citrina) is our most familiar example. 



Where they find a congenial home, they grow to immense size ; increas- 

 ing by the pseudo-bulbs in every direction, and often covering a whole 

 tree. In many cases, a large tree becomes a large bouquet of orchids ; 

 or many species, with various-colored, curiously-shaped flowers, are often 

 found on the same tree. 



While all the East-Indian orchids require a hot, moist temperature, many 

 of the South-American and Mexican species will endure much cold with- 

 out injury : they are sometimes found where the mercury at night descends 



