VI. OECHIDE^. 



775 



Tribe VI. NEOTTIEM. 



Pollinia sub'pulverulent ; granules loosely coherent, fixed to a retinaculum. 

 Anther parallel to the stigma, persistent, cells close together. — Terrestrial plants, 

 with fascicled fibrous or tuberous roots, sometimes epiphytes, sometimes aphyl- 

 lous, or parasites ? resembling Orohanchew, 



Ponthiseva. Prescottia. 



Stenorliynchus. Pelexia. 

 Diuris. Orthaceras. 



PRINCIPAL GENERA, 



Listera. Neottia. 



Goodyera. Ansectnchilus. 



Prasophyllum. Thelymitra. 



Epipactis. 

 Physurus. 



Spiranthes. 

 Zeuxine. 



Tribe VII. CYPBIPflDIEM 



Anthers 2, lateral, both fer- 

 tile, the intermediate one peta- 

 loid. Pollen granular, softening 

 during fertilization. Stigma 

 divided into 3 areolae opposite to 

 the stamens. 



CULTIVATED GENERA. 



Oypripedium. Uropedium. 



' Selenipedjum. 



Orchidem, which form one of the 

 most natural families of the Vegetable 

 Kingdom, have taxed the sagacity of 

 our most eminent botanists — Dupetit- 

 Thouars,R.Brown, L. C.Eichard,Blume, 

 Lindley, &e. They are espeoiaUy re- 

 markable for the curiously varied shapes 

 and colours of their perianth, which 

 resembles most dissimilar objects — ass, 

 helmet, slipper, fly, bee, beetle, a little 

 monkey, &c.=^and the relative sizes of 

 which are sometimes extraordinarily difr 

 ferent (Uropedium). The andrcecium, 

 which is gynandrous, like that of Aris- 

 tolochietB (page 705), the pollen agglo- 

 merated into masses, as mAsd^adeis 

 (page 653), and the ujidivided embryo, 

 are all exceptiojial characters, which 

 might render their position in the sys- 

 tem doubtful, were it not that the 

 structure of their stem, the nervation of 

 their leaves, and the arrangement of 

 their hexaphyllous and 2-seriate peri» 

 anth, evidently place them among Mono- 

 cotyledons. Incomplete as their andrcecium appears, the ternary type of most Monocotyledonous families 

 may yet be traced in it. According to the sagacious observations of K. Brown, it is composed, sometimes 



CypHpedium spectabUe. 



