HORTICULTURAL SHOW. 61 



but three leaves, and another who has single specimen plants 

 which cost him $50. 



Of all the air plants perhaps the most beautiful is one named 

 in honor of the Duke of Devonshire, Deudrobium Devoniana, the 

 flowers of which look as if made of satin covered with brilliant 

 hues. The ground color is white, tinted with purple and yellow 

 in equal proportion. The petals and sepals are tipped with 

 purple, while the labellum or lip is tipped with purple, and 

 stained with a golden yellow. The Lelia autumnalis has 

 its petals white where they join at the centre, and then by 

 regular gradations of tint the color changes to a deep rose, with 

 pencilings of crimson drawn through it. The column and lip 

 form a tube which terminate in a rose-tinted fan spread open to 

 its full extent. 



One of the most curious is the Brocklehurstiana bucephalus, 

 whose five alternate flowers grow from a stem which comes from 

 the bottom of the mass of roots, and hangs pendant like a tassel. 

 The sepals of the flowers are of a bright straw color, and the 

 petals a deep yellow at the base which fades into a lighter shade 

 as it approaches the point, the whole being dotted with flecks of 

 gold throughout. The column is dyed orange, but the terminal 

 fan-like lip is white with purple dots. The "column" of the 

 air-plant is composed of the organs of fructification joined in a 

 common mass, but how the fertilization of the flowers is accom- 

 plished is one of the mysteries which even now bafl3e the study 

 of botanists. The manner in which the plant is disseminated 

 and vegetated is probably thus : The fecundated seed, pollen, 

 sporule, germ or whatever it may be, borne on the breeze, is 

 lodged in the bark or at the fork of the limbs of a tree. Here, 

 the heat and moisture of the air causes it to germinate, and at 

 once the young plant throws its roots out into the air. Fed on 

 nothing, so far as has yet been ascertained, beyond moisture and 

 the gases of the air, it runs regularly through all the stages of 

 growth, and in due time produces its flower and seed. In artifi- 

 cial culture, it has been found that the plant will never properly 

 thrive while its roots are compressed, even in moss, much less 

 soil, and that after languishing thus to the very verge of disso- 

 lution, if the roots are exposed solely to the air, the lost vigor 

 is restored, and the plant thrives famously. The usual way to 

 grow them is to attach them firmly to bits of wood or cork, 

 and hang them in mid-air from the green-house roof, giving them 



