ORCHIDE.E. 295 



in woods, and others again at considerable eleva- 

 tions on the cold and sterile mountains. 



The British ones are all bulbous herbaceous 

 plants, with annual stems, and they annually pro- 

 duce one or more bulbs at the root. The roots of 

 all contain a very soft and glutinous matter, 

 which makes a wholesome light gruel, under the 

 name of " salep," and is, in some of the foreign 

 species, made into a kind of vegetable glue. But 

 curious as some of the British ones are, they are 

 nothing compared with those that are natives of 

 the tropical countries. It is difficult to imagine 

 a whimsical figure that shall not have a sort of 

 likeness in one or another of them ; and in the 

 forests there, some of the monkeys and some of 

 the flowers of the orchidece so much resemble each 

 other, that if it were not for the motion and the 

 chattering, a stranger would hesitate a little be- 

 fore deciding which were the face of the animal 

 and which the flower. 



In their tints of colour they are most brilliant, 

 and the contrasts are perhaps the finest that are 

 to be met with in all the pencilling of nature. 

 Nor are the plants so diminutive, or of so short 

 duration as they are with us. Many of them are 

 perennial ; and though there are perhaps none of 

 which the roots and stems can be considered as 

 wood, yet they continue to endure and to grow 

 where wood never grew. It would be impossible, 

 however, in any description that could be written, 

 to convey a popular notion of their forms ; but 

 there are some of them that, in point of absolute 

 beauty, and in as far as flowers are concerned, 

 that is utility, are entitled to take the lead among 

 the whole of the flower producing- tribes. 



The following is a black outline of part of the 



