KESTDsG ORCHIDS. 



RESTING- ORCHIDS. 



EVERY person acquainted with this class of plants will readily 

 admit that, as a rule, rest is essential to their successful culti- 

 vation. There is, however, a great difference in the duration 

 as well as in the manner of resting the different species of 

 Orchids which we have now in cultivation. In their native 

 habitats they are materially influenced by the various atmo- 

 spheric conditions in which they are for the time being placed. 

 Take, for example, our own native terrestrial Orchids Listera 

 and Habenaria. During winter, they are silently resting 

 beneath the surface of the earth ; but though resting, they 

 are, as a matter of course, liberally supplied with moisture. 

 In a manner analogous to this, the glorious South African 

 Disa grandiflora is partially or entirely submerged during its 

 period of repose ; and when cultivating it here at home we 

 find it necessary to keep it in a state of moisture nearly the 

 whole year round. On the other hand, we find many Indian 

 Orchids terrestrial ones as Cypripedium concolor, Phalse- 

 nopsis Lowii, and others that rest during the hot and dry 

 period of the year, and only commence their growth with the 

 rainy season. Indeed, the Phalasnopsis alluded to is often, 

 dried off, and becomes deciduous, on its native rocks in 

 Moulmein. In cultivation, however, it is inadvisable to subject 

 it to such treatment, and, as it retains its foliage throughout 

 the year, its rest with us is far less decided. Again, Calanthes 

 or rather Preptanthes may be kept comparatively dry for 

 three months without doing them any material injury. On 

 the other hand, some of the cooler-growing Oncids and 

 Odontoglots, as Oncidium macraiithum, 0. serratum (dia- 

 dema), Odontoglossum Alexandras, 0. Uro-Skirmeri, and 

 many other species require but little rest ; indeed, with these 



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