804 THE ORCHID FAMILY. 



either solitary or in spikes, racemes, or panicles, each one in the 

 axil of a bract. Perianth superior, irregular, with 6 usually petal- 

 like segments ; the 3 outer ones, called sepals, and 2 of the inner 

 ones, called petals, often nearly alike ; the third inner one, called 

 the lip or labellum, differing from the others in shape or direction. 

 Opposite to the lip, in the axis of the flower, is the column, con- 

 sisting of 1 or rarely 2 stamens, combined with the pistil ; the 

 2-celled anther or anthers being variously situated on the style 

 itself. Pollen rarely granular, more frequently cohering into 1 or 

 2 pairs of oblong or globular pollen-masses, tapering at one end 

 into a point. Ovary inferior, 1-celled, with 3 parietal placentas. 

 Capsule 3-valved, with innumerable minute seeds, resembling 

 fine sawdust. 



A very extensive Order, spread over all parts of the globe. Our own 

 species, and generally those of temperate regions, are terrestrial, but a 

 large proportion of the tropical ones are epiphytes, growing upon the 

 stems and branches of trees, but without penetrating into their tissue. 

 JSTumbers of these are now becoming well known, having been of late 

 years extensively cultivated in our hothouses for the singularity of 

 the forms assumed by the flowers, as well as for the great beauty of 

 some of them. The genera are distinguished chiefly by the form and 

 relative arrangement of the anther-cells, the pollen-masses, and the 

 stigma, and the shape and direction of the lip, characters which, how- 

 ever essential, are in many cases as difficult to describe clearly as to 

 observe accurately, especially in dried specimens. For the beginner, 

 therefore, I have endeavoured in the following table to select such 

 prominent features as may guide him to the British species, indepen- 

 dently of the more accurate technical characters, which may be reserved 

 for subsequent study. 



Plants without any leaves, except short scales. 



Lip with, a spur underneath. Flowers few, rather 



large 8. Epipogittm. 



Lip without a spur. Flowers small. 



Plant green. Flowers white, in a spirally- twisted 



spike 9. Spiranth. 



Plant andflowers brown oryellowish-white. Flowers 

 in a raceme. 

 Lip entire, not so long as the sepals . . . . 3. Coralroot. 



Lip 2-cleft, longer than the sepals 7. Neottia. 



Plant with 1, 2, or more green leaves. 



Perianth with a spur or pouch at the base of the lip 11. Orchis (and 



2. Haben-aria). 



