REPORT 



ON THE 



PLANTS EXHIBITED. 



n. 



BOTANICAL. 



From a botanical point of view, this exhibition, one of the largest 

 and most varied yet made, was of very considerable interest, 

 for though certain very popular cultural genera — e.g., Odonto- 

 glossum, Cattleya, and Cypripedium — formed the bulk and most 

 conspicuous portion of the show, yet there were a number of 

 smaller and less striking plants shown which possessed an almost 

 strictly botanical interest. These were chiefly shown by the 

 amateurs, the dealers devoting themselves rather to the more 

 showy genera and hybrids. Several of the genera well known in 

 cultivation were hardly or not at all represented in the exhibition, 

 owing to their not flowering at that time, and the ornamental- 

 foliaged plants belonging to the group Neottiea were conspicuous 

 by their absence. In spite of this, however, there were examples 

 of no less than sixty-one genera. 



The majority of these were epiphytes, the terrestrials being 

 usually more difficult of cultivation, and as a rule less showy. 



The greatest number were natives of tropical South 

 America, but species from most other parts of the world were 

 there. The proportions are represented by the following order : 

 South America (including Mexico), East India, Malaya (including 

 Philippine Islands), Indian Peninsula, Australia, China and Japan, 

 Europe, North America, Africa, Madagascar. 



The Indo-Malayan region would doubtless have been more 

 strongly represented, had not several of the most important 

 genera been almost out of season, such were Dendrobium, 

 Coelogyne and Phalaenopsis. 



