12 ORCHIDS. 
DENDROBIUM. (Lifegiving Tree.) 
Tus name represents a very large variety in the first of the 
seven tribes of Orchids. They originated chiefly in the East 
Indies. They grow upon trees ‘and even rocks; that is, they 
are epiphytes. Some of the species are deciduous, having the 
peculiarity of dropping their leaves before blossoming, while 
others are accounted evergreens. They are among the most 
beautiful of the orchidacee; by newly discovered varieties they 
are every year increasing, and there is hardly one that is not 
worth growing, though some in blossom are not showy. 
This family is understood to have been discovered and 
named by a German botanist, Schwartz; he having first and 
specially noticed the flowers hanging from and even overspread- 
ing trees in some forests of the Orient. Hence he sought to 
affix a name that would express the idea of life-bearing or Lz/e- 
giving Tree. 
The name Dendrobium is from the Greek 4évdgor, a tree, 
and Biog, life; and the word has here the Latin termination, as is 
common in botanical uses. The names given to flowers have 
generally (as is apparent in the following pages) been designed to 
point out some particular feature of the plant, or were given on 
account of some economical use, or out of respect to the discov- 
erer, or in compliment to an eminent patron. 
