70 THE ORCHID REVIEW.. 
NEUWIEDIA LINDLEYI. 
PROBABLY very few Orchid growers are acquainted with the remarkable 
Malayan genus Neuwiedia. Indeed, it is doubtful whether any of the 
species were introduced to Europe until two or three years ago. Now, 
however, one of them-has flowered at Kew. The floral-organs of most 
Orchids are so profoundly modified that all resemblance to those of an 
ordinary monocotyledon seems to be lost; but those of the present genus 
form a most instructive exception. Here we find three nearly free stamens, 
with linear anthers, and a slender style—characters which at first sight 
Seem incompatible with those of an ordinary Orchid. The plants have 
the habit of Curculigo and bear erect spikes of yellow flowers, not unlike 
those of Calanthe curculigoides, but longer, narrower, and without a spur. 
The ovary is precisely that of an Orchid—or, at least, that of Selenipedium, 
being three-celled with axile placentation—and the seeds are also similar, 
both in structure and appearance. And as to the other peculiarities, 
appearances are rather deceptive. Closer examination reveals the fact 
that the stamens and style are united into a short column at the base, 
and also that the three stamens are those present in Cypripedium, though 
the dorsal one is not modified into a staminode, as in that genus. In both 
the three stamens are situated on the back of the flower, while the three 
on the front are suppressed, which is an interesting peculiarity. An 
ordinary monocotyledonous flower has six stamens, arranged in two alter- 
nating whorls of three each, one within the other. Occasionally either 
the outer or inner whorl is absent, but in the present instance the 
suppressed stamens are two of the outer whorl and one of the inner, 
which accounts for the remaining three being all on one side of the flower. 
The present genus, together with Apostasia, were formerly considered as 
representing a distinct family, the Apostasiez, and there are those who 
would still keep them apart. 
The fact is Apostasiee are ancestral Orchids—plants which have 
retained much of their simple monocotyledonous structure, while many 
of their brethren have become profoundly modified—and a brief examina- 
tion of their characters affords a wonderful insight into the mysteries of 
the family generally, for all, however highly specialised, are simply 
modifications of the same type. 
The one character in which Orchids differ most from ordinary mono- 
cotyledons, and to which no exception can be taken, is in the structure of 
the seeds—the minute homogeneous embryo with wrinkled testa—but this 
they possess in common with Burmanniacee. The latter Order, how- 
ever, has regular flowers, in which both whorls of stamens may be present 
or the outer or inner one entirely suppressed. Orchids are invariably 
irregular in structure—at least in the arrangement of the stamens—and 
