ORCHIDACEiE. 



295 



covered that from some peculiarities of structure, it is neces- 

 sary to apply the pollen to the stigma artificially. " In the 

 year 1836 a plant in the hothouses in the Botanic Gardens 

 at Liege produced fifty-four flowers, which, having been arti- 

 ficially fecundated, exhibited the same number of pods, quite 

 equal to those imported from Mexico ; and in 1837 a fresh 

 crop of about a hundred pods was obtained upon another 

 plant by the same method. He attributes the fecundation 

 of the plant in Mexico to the action of some insect, and 

 hence accounts for the non-production of fruit in those 

 plants which have been removed to other countries." In its 

 native localities this plant is said to climb to the tops of 

 the highest trees, and there to display its curious white 

 flowers. When introduced into the Orchid-house in this 

 country, it should be grown on a portion of decaying wood, 

 or planted in a pot of decayed tan mixed with rubbish, and 

 the stem trained where it can take root, which it does like 

 Ivy. It requires an atmosphere hot and damp, the tempe- 

 rature never below sixty degrees; frequent sprinklings or 

 showers of water are better for the plant than much water 

 at once. 



