The Guiana Orchids. 



even when they are so general as Epidendron (upon a 

 tree, a tree percher) or Dendrobium (a liver in trees). 

 More specific names such as Odontoglossum (tooth 

 tongue) ; Coryanthes, (helmet flower) ; Catasetum, (hang- 

 ing bristle) and Cycnoches, (swan neck), although per- 

 haps not altogether pretty, are very suggestive to the 

 botanist. Another class of names are not descriptive in 

 any way but are nevertheless better on the whole than 

 those which commemorate the discoverer or first culti- 

 vator. Some of these are very pretty indeed and have 

 been used as christian names for girls, all orchid names 

 being of course feminine; Vanda, (the Hindoo name of 

 the type species), Laelia, (a vestal virgin) and Phajus 

 (shining) are examples of this class. Some commemo- 

 rative names, as Bletia, Brassavola and Stanhopea, are 

 also pretty, but as so many others are difficult to pro- 

 nounce or have to be altered considerably in latinising, 

 they should be avoided as much as possible. However, 

 we must not go too far in condemning what we are now 

 about to make the subje6l of our paper. 



The first epiphytal orchids were imported into England 

 a little over a century ago, from the West Indies, mostly 

 from Jamaica. They were much admired, but rarely lived 

 more than a few months, only flowering sometimes in a 

 last dying effort. In 1791 Epidendron fragrans was 

 figured in the Botanical Magazine, which stated that 

 instances of " parasites" flowering in England were very 

 rare. Commodore Gardnek, in 1789 presented to the 

 Apothecaries' Company some plants he had brought 

 from Jamaica, and this one had lately flowered. It was 

 planted in a pot of rotten wood and decayed leaves, and 

 plunged in a tan pit, treatment which probably killed it 



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