OBCHIDALES. 



469 



the minute seeds containing a rudimentary embryo and no 

 endosperm. 



Order Apostasiacese, a small order of East Indian plants, which are 

 Interesting because of their 



evident relationship to the B ^^ ^ -" 



Orchids, from which they aJ^^/ , >?<^^ 



differ in having the style 

 partially free from the sta- 

 mens. 



Order Orchidacese. — 

 The Orchids. Terrestrial 

 or epiphytic plants, whose 

 stamens and style are com- 

 pletely united into a com- 

 mon column or gynoate- 

 mium. The three thousand 

 species are found in " all 

 climates and in all situa^ 

 tions but maritime and 

 aquatic." (Hooker.) 



This order has long been 

 highly esteemed for the 

 many curiously shaped and 

 colored flowers it affords, 

 and many hundreds of its 

 species are to be found in 

 cultivation in conservato- 

 ries. They are interesting 

 also from the fact that none 

 of them are, unaided, capa- 

 ble of fertilizing their 

 ovules, and appear in every 

 case to be dependent upon 

 insects for the transport of 

 the pollen and its deposition 

 upon the stigma. 



This great order is usu- 

 ally divided into seven 

 tribes, as under. 



Tribe I. Cypripe- 

 dieCB, with two pollinifer- 

 ous stamens containing 

 granular pollen (Fig. 362). 



In this the genus Oypri- 

 pedium, whicli contains our native Lady's-Slippers,is the most important. 

 Some of the species, notably G. speetabile and G. acaule, are greatly ad- 

 mired in cultivation. 



Pig. 361. — Orchis maeulata. A, a symmetrical 

 vertical section of a flower bud. B, transverse sec- 

 tion of the bud. 6', transverse section of ovary. 

 Zl, mature flower, with one sepal removed ; x, 

 axis of flower cluster ; 6, bract ; s, sepals ; p, pet- 

 als ; ?, labellum ; m, its spur ; a and pi, poUen- 

 mass ; A, its viscid disc ; ge, the column (gyno- 

 stcminm); near gs is the stigma which projects 

 toward h ; /, inferior ovary, twisted in D ; 8i, sta- 

 minodes. — ^After Sachs. 



