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A GROUP OF CATTLEYA LABIATA. 



THE ORCHIDS.— AN INTRODUCTION. 



THE wonderful family of flowers known to the world as Orchids possesses fascinating 

 interest. A halo of romance seemed at one period of their history to surround 

 these strangely-shaped and brilliantly-coloured flowers, but of late years Orchids 

 have become more familiar, flaming Cattlevas, pure white Odontoglossums, and 

 even the more grotesque forms composing groups at the exhibitions and the meetings of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, where a committee adjudicates upon new hybrids and species 

 introduced from other lands and raised in the nurseries of Britain. 



Orchids are the floral children of many lands, and in the quiet English mead dainty 

 species are discovered, without the splendour of their exotic brethren, but interesting and 

 charming, the purple of Orchis Mascula dyeing the moist meadows with colour, and occasionally 

 the pretty Bee Orchis is discovered or the yellow-pouched Cypripedium Calceolus. Through- 

 out the world, upon the high Alpine pastures where snow lays thick in winter, in the 

 English mead and the tropical jungles, these flowers scatter their fragrance and resplendent 

 colouring, assuming wonderful shapes, as if to attract insect agency to effect fertilisation 

 and ensure offspring. The species, varieties, and hybrids form a great host, and the Orchid 

 family increases as new productions are added through the skill of the hybridist. A record 

 of the year's work upon the Orchid Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society serves 

 to show that an intense interest is still manifested in the flowers, although one hears 

 rumours of the "decline of the Orchid," as if the public were beginning to tire of its 

 beautiful flowers and strange forms. But this is moonshine. Orchids are more popular at 

 the present day than at any period of their history ; the time of immense prices given for 

 rare kinds may have passed by, but the love for this wonderful family is deepening and 

 will become more widespread as the more easily-grown kinds decrease in price. 



One of the most remarkable features of Orchid life is the resemblance certain 



