THE ORCHID REVIEW. 209 
NOTES ON ORCHIDS IN THE JUNGLE. 
By MAJOR-GENERAL E, S. BERKELEY. 
(Continued from page 164.) 
AT this season of the year when the summer-flowering Phalanopses are 
generally in bloom, or pushing flower-spikes, in the Orchid houses in 
England, an account of the mode of growth of some of them in their 
native homes may be of special interest. 
The growth of the summer-flowering species in the jungle is very 
luxuriant, and they grow together in great quantities, so that the collector, 
if he finds one plant, has no difficulty in getting plenty, as when once found 
they are abundant within a small area. 
With one or two exceptions, most of them may be found in flower during 
the early rains in May, and they continue in bloom until the heavy rains 
set in, when active leaf growth commences, and all the strength of the 
plant goes to making up new leaves and filling the seed pods, as many of 
the plants seed freely in their wild state. 
Although this particular section of Phalenopsis, known as Stauroglottis, 
is not so grand as the Euphalenopsis division, yet as seen in their native 
homes they are truly effective, from the great profusion in which their 
flower-spikes are produced. In our English Orchid houses they are easier 
of cultivation than the winter-flowering species, and are useful plants for 
the Phalznopsis house, coming into bloom when the others are past. 
Although growing in the summer in an atmosphere laden with moisture, 
and requiring a damp house to grow in, these plants do not like steam 
rising from water through which a pipe is passed. But plenty of water 
in the atmosphere may be given by damping the staging and flcors, at the 
Same time maintaining a free circulation of air; and the whole of the 
Stauroglottis section are good doers. 
In giving a description of a few plants of this section, and the conditions 
under which they grow in their native homes, it must be borne in mind that 
a large portion of the enormous moisture these plants are surrounded by 
in nature is quickly absorbed by the air. It never stagnates, as in our 
Orchid houses at home, which is at the root of all our difficulties in 
growing these plants. 
Phalznopsis tetraspis is a plant specially worth noting. We have 
not yet in England seen large plants of it, as, unfortunately, the large 
plants will not travel, and only the small ones reach England alive. But 
it is a truly beautiful plant in its native home. I myself saw in the South 
Andaman a plant which was many years old, the main plant bearing 
€normous leaves, quite three feet long. This plant had a progeny of 
children growing on the old flower-stems, and these plants again had 
14 
