l8 TiMEHRI. 



When we come to the flowers we begin to get an 

 inkling of the definition of the orchid. The labellum or 

 lip is peculiar and generally most conspicuous, but this is 

 not universally the case, a few genera having it of small 

 size and hidden within the other divisions. However, it 

 is always present in one shape or another and is gene- 

 rally more or less united with the column. Linnaeus put 

 the Orchidaceae in his class Gynandria, on account of the 

 union of the male and female organs into one body, and 

 this column, as it is now called, is the essential and 

 peculiar chara6ler of the orchid. The more advanced 

 botanists place the Orchidaceae at the head of the natural 

 orders of Endogens and the Compositae above the rest 

 of the Exogens. Both are examples of fusion of certain 

 parts — the Compositae have their florets aggregated and 

 anthers united, and the Orchidaceae their stamens and 

 pistils incorporated the one with the other. The orchids 

 are therefore to this respeft not only above all their 

 allies, such as the lilies, but farther advanced than any 

 order of Exogens. That they really are so, every student 

 must admit, as in variety of form, colour, habit and con- 

 trivance they certainly excel all others. 



The place that these wonderful plants have taken 

 during the last few years is therefore only due to their 

 merits. In them we have epitomised all the powers and 

 capacities of plants. They are the kings of the floral 

 world — the most delicate, the most sensitive, the most 

 curious and the most varied. Like men they are indi- 

 viduals — every plant is so different from every other that 

 an orchidophile may recognise each one. Some species 

 have scores of named varieties, but this is nothing ; 

 every single plant is a variety. It follows therefore that 



