91 



bulbs it is sometimes called by visitors to the conservatories the 

 olive plant. An account of this orchid, together with an illus- 

 tration of one of the plants forming this group, will be found 

 in the Journal for April, 1905. Next to this orchid is another 

 one from the same region, Paphiopcdilum insignc, one of the 

 Venus' slippers. It usually flowers in January and continues in 

 flower for several weeks. This is often known as Cypripedium 

 Hanging over the path are several plants of Cattleya 



. Me: 



», the 



rchid, s 



led fro! 



habit of growing with its stems and flowers reversed, the large 

 yellow flowers hanging down. A collection of the tooth-tongue 

 orchids, Odontoglossum, and species of the genus Masdevallia 

 follows. The latter are mainly from the Andes of South Amer- 

 ica, being especially numerous in Colombia and Bolivia, and are 

 exceedingly difficult to cultivate here on account of the extreme 

 heat of our summers. Some of these are very small and might 

 be easily overlooked by any one but the experienced collector of 

 such plants. Others, such as M. Tovarcnsis, are comparatively 

 large and the flowers showy. 



The iris family, Iridaceae, has a pretty dwarf representative in 

 Iris gracilipes, from Japan, a miniature of our own blue flag of 



the 



showy spec 



of Die 



;, from souther 



, and Liber tiafor- 

 mosa, from Chili, belong in this family. The last-mentioned 

 genus, Libertia, has an odd distribution, being found also in 

 Australia and New Zealand. 



The amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae, is largely represented 

 by bulbous plants, many of which have a resting period, so that 

 the complexion of this collection is constantly changing, such 

 plants when at rest being removed to other quarters. Of the 



with showy flowers are Clivia, Crinum, Ncrinc and Atamosco. 



The vellozia family, Velloziaceae, is represented by one Brazil- 

 ian species, Vellozia leptophylla. This family is closely related 

 to the amaryllis family. 



The lily family, Liliaceae, is largely represented. Several 



