OECH 



Cfje Creatfurg at 230tatij?. 



820 



lum turns round within the column, and 

 falls back, so that, the flower being invert- 

 ed, it stands fairly over the latter. The 

 moment a small insect touches its point, 

 the labelliun makes a sudden revolution, 

 brings the point to the bottom of the co- 

 lumn, passing the anther in its way, and 

 thus makes prisoner any insect which the 

 box will hold. When it catches an insect 

 it remains shut while its prey continues to 

 move about, but if no capture is made the 

 lid soon recovers its position. Drakceaelas- 

 tica and Spiculwa ciliata are other species 

 with remarkable moveable appendages. 



Orchids are found in almost all parts of 

 the world, except upon the verge of the 

 frozen zone, and in climates of excessive 

 dryness. In Europe, Asia, and North Ame- 

 rica they grow everywhere, in groves, 

 marshes, and meadows ; at the Cape of 

 Good Hope they abound in similar situa- 

 tions; but in the hot damp parts of the 

 West and East Indies, in Madagascar and 

 the neighbouring islands, in the damp and 

 humid forests of Brazil, in the warm mild 

 parts of Central America and Western 

 Mexico, in the damp tropical parts of India, 

 and on the lower mountains of Nepal, they 

 flourish in the greatest variety and profu- 

 sion, no longer seeking their nutriment 

 from the soil, but clinging to the trunks 

 and limbs of trees, to stones and bare rocks, 

 where they vegetate among ferns and other 

 shade-loving plants in countless thousands. 



The Orchidacece are divided into seven 

 tribes, upon characters derived from the 

 staminal apparatus, thus : — 



* Anther one only ; pollen masses waxy— 

 MalaxecB : no caudicle or separable stig- 



matic gland. 

 Epidendrem : a distinct caudicle, but no 



separable stigmatic gland. 

 Vandece: a distinct caudicle, united to 

 a stigmatic gland. 

 ** Anther one only; pollen powdery, 

 granulai - , or sectile— 

 Ophrece : anther terminal, erect. 

 Arethusece: anther terminal, opercular. 

 Neottece : anther dorsal. 

 *** Anthers two— Gypripedecc. 



The nutritive substance called salep has 

 been prepared from the subterraneous suc- 

 culent roots of Orchis musculo, and various 

 species of the ophreous division, and in 

 India from the tubers of a species of Eu- 

 lophia; it is said to consist almost entirely 

 of a chemical principle called bassorin. The 

 viscidity of the tuber of Aplectrum hijemulc 

 is such that it is called putty-root in the 

 United States, and it is used for cement- 

 ing earthenware. The substance called 

 vanilla in the shops, which is the dried fruit 

 of Vanilla planifolia and other species, 

 contains a great quantity of essential oil, 

 and a good deal of benzoic acid, and is one 

 of the most delightful aromatics known ; 

 it is used in the manufacture of chocolate, 

 of liqueurs, and of various articles of con- 

 fectionery. 



For various interesting particulars re- 

 specting the structure of the flowers of 

 these plants, the reader is referred to Mr. 



Darwin's book, On the Fertilisation of Or- 

 chids. [T. M.] 



ORCHIDS. The popular name of the Or- 

 chidaceaz, or Orchis family. 



ORCHIL, ARCHIL, ORCHAL, or OR- 

 CHILL. Various names for the dye pre- 

 pared from Orchella-weed. Two varieties 

 occur : the one blue, formed by steeping 

 the weed in some ammoniacal liquor, 

 as urine, in a covered wooden vessel : 

 the other red, made in earthen jars in a 

 room heated by steam. Both are sold in 

 the liquid form, and, notwithstanding their 

 name, are of a more or less decided red. — , 

 BURMESE. A dye-stuff prepared in Bur- 

 mah, from Boccella phycopsis. [M. J. B.] 



ORCHIS. A genus of terrestrial orchids, 

 which comprises the largest number and 

 the commonest of the European species, 

 and which has thus given its name to the 

 whole order. The species are all perennials, 

 although the whole plant dies down and is 

 renewed in the course of each year, for the 

 rootstock produces each year a fleshy tu- 

 bercule by the side of the decaying one of 

 the preceding year, the following year's 

 stem shooting from the top of the new tu- 

 bercule. The herbaceous erect stem is leafy 

 at the base, with a terminal spike of flow- 

 ers, usually red or purple, but occasionally 

 white or greenish. The five sepals and 

 petals are nearly equal, the upper sepal or 

 all three often arching over the petals ; 

 the lip, either dilated at the top or three- 

 lobed, is always produced at the base un- 

 derneath into a spur or pouch. The anther 

 is on the face of the column, the two cells 

 converging at the base, each cell contain- 

 ing one pollen-mass, contracted below into 

 a short stalk, terminating in a gland. The 

 species are most numerous in Europe and 

 temperate Asia, with only a very few in 

 North America ; the British ones are vari- 

 ously estimated at from ten to fifteen spe- 

 cies, according to the extent attributed by 

 different botanists to the genus itself, or 

 to the individual species. 



O.maculata and O. latifolia, two species 

 very closely allied to each other, are 

 amongst the commonest in our meadows, 

 pastures, and open woods. The tubers are 

 rather flat and divided into two or three 

 finger-like lobes, the leaves often marked 

 with dark spots or blotches, the flowers 

 more or less pink, in a dense spike, with 

 the lower bracts almost always longer than 

 the ovary, and in 0. latifolia exceeding the 

 flowers ; the lip is broad and spotted or 

 variegated, and the spur nearly as long as 

 the ovary. O. mascula, found in rich moist 

 meadows and shady places, is a much hand- 

 somer plant, with entire tubers, and showy 

 flowers in a loose spike, varying from a 

 bright pinkish-purple to flesh-colour. O. 

 laxiflorn, more common on the Continent, 

 but notfound nearer to us than the Channel 

 Islands, is like it but still handsomer, with 

 richly coloured flowers. O. militaris, with 

 its two allied species or varieties, O.fusca 

 and 0. tephrosanthos, is another very hand- 

 some species, with a dense oblong spike of 



