INTRODU GPO IN: 
Tuts royal plant-family of ancient Grecian name, —‘ooyug — 
whose structure and leading characteristics the following pages 
are designed to illustrate, is part of the world’s flora until re- 
cently little known in this country. The singularly curious fea- 
tures of many varieties, and the exquisite beauty or fragrance of 
others, have rapidly and widely, since their introduction from 
abroad, attracted the admiration of students in natural history, 
and of all lovers of flowers. 
One of our most enthusiastic and thoroughly capable flor- 
ists justly says:. “Orchids are the éife of the floral kingdom. 
The flowers are, without exception, the most curious and 
beautiful in nature. Their qualities, taken separately, would 
give eminence to a race of plants; the singularity of their 
shapes, their delicate and aromatic odors, and the richness and 
variety of their colors,— all being different from anything we 
elsewhere meet.” 
This weird and wonderful plant has its natural habitat chiefly 
in the tropics, the most beautiful of the species coming from 
the East Indies; but the orchidaceze are found in all warm and 
moist latitudes, and in nearly all localities, except such as are 
extremely dry and cold. A few varieties are found as far north 
even as the Canadas. 
