ORCHIDS. 



303 



There is another plant which has lately been introduced, the 

 Masdevallia Veitchii (fig. 645) ; this is also a remarkable plant, and 

 is a desideratum for the orchid-house. 



Fig. 645. — Masdevallia 

 Veitchii. 



Fig. 646 — Vanilla. 



Fig. 647. — Cselogyne cristata. 



Everybody is acquainted with the powerful odour and intense, 

 penetrating flavour of the Vanilla {Vanilla aromatica, fig. 646), but 

 everyone does not know that it is the produce of a climbing orchid. 

 It sends down roots six or eight feet long, from the roof of the 

 house to the ground. The fruit, which is a long pod, is used for 

 flavouring purposes. I received my plant from Mr. Terry, who has fine 

 specimens. It rarely fruits in this country, though fine pods from Sion 

 House have been shown. The plant itself requires full exposure to 

 the sun to mature it, and I have .seen it in fruit at the Horticultural 

 Gardens in Florence, where no doubt the powerful Italian sun con- 

 tributes to perfect the fruit in the hot-houses there. 



There is a very beautiful orchid, the Cczlogyne cristata (fig. 647), from 

 Nepaul, which thrives well in my fernery. It forms its bulbs during 

 the summer, and soon after Christmas sends up its flower-spikes, that 

 hang gracefully over the sides of the pot in which it is planted. 

 It is a very charming plant. 



The Pitcher-plants are the universal concomitants of an orchid- 

 house. The oldest and best-known one, the Nepenthes distillatoria, was 

 nearly lost, and had become very scarce a year or two since. I have 

 had this variety, and now possess N. levis, which forms its pitchers 

 well. The N. ampullacea is the most noble, having pitchers of pro- 



