ORCHIDS OF LESSER VALUE 185 



accommodate them easily. In former years, when large stove 

 plants were popular, and there were fairly high houses for their 

 accommodation, the case was different. The Cyrtopodiums 

 offer a fine opportunity for the display of horticultural skill in 

 gardens where the conveniences permit. Their chief requirements 

 are plenty of root room, ample drainage, a compost of equal parts 

 of fibrous loam and old manure, a high stove temperature, and an 

 abundance of w^ater when growth is vigorous. All the species are 

 deciduous, and while at rest they may with advantage be placed 

 with the Cattleyas and given no water until new growth com- 

 mences. Anyone who can grow the splendid deciduous Caladiums 

 well should find no difficulty in cultivating Cyrtopodiums to 

 perfection. 



The principal species are C. Alicia, a Brazilian species 

 that has rather small, yellow-green, brown-spotted flowers, in 

 branching spikes, and its numerous bracts of similar colour add 

 considerably to its effectiveness; C. Andersoni, from the West 

 Indies, grows five feet high, and produces an abundance of bright 

 yellow flowers on a yard-high, branched spike, in early Summer ; 

 C. PUNCTATUM, with a spike almost as large as that of C. Andersoni, 

 but its stem and leaf growth are not so vigorous as in the latter 

 species ; the bright yellow flowers are freely spotted with red, and 

 usually produced in tall, branched spikes in the late Spring. 



DIACRIUM 



The small genus of West Indian Orchids known as Diacrium 

 is closely allied to Epidendrum, and sometimes placed under the 

 latter. Only one species is at all commonly cultivated, and this is 

 D. BICORNUTUM, which has thick pseudo-bulbs that are quite 



