100 The Orchis Tribe. 



Modern arrangement has divided the family we are about con- 

 sidering into upwards of 300 different genera, some of which 

 are named, Orchis, Satyrium, Orphrys, Habenaria, Gymna- 

 denia, Hermirum, Aceras, Goodyeara, Barthoi.ina, Serapias 

 Disa, Pterygodium, Neottia, Ponthicoa, Diuris, Thelymitra, 

 Listera, Epipactis, Pogonia, Caladenia, Glossodia, Ptero- 

 stylis, Calcya, Cal6pogon, Arethusa, Bletia, Geodorum, 

 Calypso, Malaxis, Isochilus, Corallarrhiza, Stelis, Orni- 

 thedium, Cryptarrhena, Aerides, Simodorum, Pleurothallis, 

 Octomaeria. Most of these species are of perennial duration 

 and grow in moist and shady places, where yegetable earth 

 abounds ; some of them, more especially in tropical climates, as 

 the tribe of Epidendrons, exist only as parasites, and are at- 

 tached to the bark of trees by their fleshy fibred roots. Many of 

 them have tuberous roots, which gradually change to the charac- 

 ter of thick and branching fibres, all of which are annually and 

 laterally renewed ; and Nuttall remarks, so that in many of the 

 tubers, as those of the Aplectrum and Epidendrum,the annually 

 rejected inert and withering tubers form concatenated links of seve- 

 ral individuals, possessing different degrees of vitality and powers 

 of reproduction. Most of them, with the exception of the fibrous 

 and clasping roots which we have mentioned, are of difficult 

 propagation, though we can promise some little success in their 

 cultivation ; nor will many of them exist at all, except in the 

 shade of the forest and amidst recent vegetable soil. Invariably 

 entire leaves of an oblong shape, embracing at the base a simple 

 stem, are their characteristics, with the flowers arranged in spikes 

 or racemes. The majority of them are in the order Monandria, 

 and a few in Diandria. They are well distributed into sections, 

 by f three different forms of the anther, the texture of the pollen 

 being used by Mr. Brown for further distinction. To describe 

 minutely all these genera would require volumes ; in our com- 

 pass it would be difficult to explain thoroughly one of them ; 

 we will consequently give all we can — a bird's-eye view. Phil- 

 lips remarks, that this family of plants, so singular in their con- 

 struction and so beautiful in their appearance, should so often be 

 excluded from the parterre, evinces a want of taste in floricul- 

 ture, or a strong predilection for ancient prejudices and absurd 

 opinions. Even the poets have failed to celebrate this flower, 

 which so richly enamels our vernal pastures with its spiral bios- 



