196 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [JuLy, 1923. 
The plants are stripped from the trees by natives in the country just 
before they are about to bloom. The roots are enclosed in cocoanut husk, 
and they are brought to Manila and hawked from house to house, either in 
bloom or just before blooming. The pedlar will ask an American a peso or 
a peso-and-a-half (two or three shillings) for one huskful, which may 
contain from two to five separate plants. I have a houseboy who has a 
strong admixture of Chinese blood and who deals with these pedlars for me 3. 
he purchases this variety at fifteen centavos, or less than fourpence a set. 
* * * * 
[In the bud state the flowers of Orchids are so arranged that the lip is. 
on the upper portion, but as further development takes place the flower 
gradually turns a half-circle, so that the lip eventually comes to the lower 
part. This causes a torsion or twisting of the ovary or pedicel. In the 
interesting example above, described by Mr. T. C. Welch, the absence of 
any pedicel apparently prevented the flower from completing its usual. 
change of position, an intermediate point being the result. Some notes on 
the twisting of the ovary were included inthe Orchid Review, vol. xxx. p. 38, 
and on page 3 of the same volume an article by Colonel M. J. Godfery : “Is 
the twisting of the ovary in Orchids a satisfactory character for systematic 
differentiation?” A photograph of Dendrobium superbum in its usual 
state of flowering, after the leaves have fallen, will be found in vol. XKIX{,, 
p- 115.—G.W.} 
ONCIDIUM ALTISSIMUM.—Any amateur who has grown or knows this. 
Oncidium will probably consider the following description of it by Lindley 
as somewhat more than the plant deserves, but it may have caused a great 
impression on horticuiturists when it was published in 1836. ‘‘ One of the- 
most gigantic of Epiphytes. The specimen from which our drawing (Bot. 
Reg. 1651) was made received a medal from the Horticultural Society, and 
had a flowering stem from six to seven feet high ; it was grown in the nursery 
of the late Mr. Colvill. It is described by Richard as frequently attaining: 
the height of nine feet in its native woods in Guiana, and we have actually 
had a specimen from Mr. Harrison of Liverpool, the flower stem of which 
exceeded ten feet in length. The blossoms are beautifully marked with: 
ereen, yellow, and scarlet, but are not of large size. Many of the 
Orchideous epiphytes are found to succeed best if tied to short pieces of the 
branches of trees with rugged bark; none succeed better upon that plan 
than the different species of Oncidium; and provided so large a plant as- 
this, with its long heavy leaves, can be made fast toa branch, we have no 
doubt it will also be found to like that kind of treatment. The specimen,- 
however, from which our drawing was taken had been grown. in a pot ins 
decayed vegetable mould.” 
