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ADERIDES ODORATUM. 



For an opportunity of figuring this most lovely plant we are indebted to the 

 Right Honourable the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, from whose rich collec- 

 tion at Enville we were obligingly furnished with a specimen by his Lordship's 

 intelligent and excellent gardener, Mr. John Beddard. It is a native of India, 

 and was originally obtained from Dacca, a district of Bengal, by Dr. Roxburgh ; 

 and subsequently from Noakote, in the kingdom of Nepaul, by Dr. Wallich. It 

 was introduced to this country about the year 1800, but although at present 

 by no means unfrequently met with in collections, it Is rarely seen in flower. 

 It is, however, richly deserving of a place in the stove of every cultivator of 

 orchidaceous plants ; for when to the graceful appearance of its long, pendulous 

 racemes, and the delicate colour of its thickly- clustered flowers, are superadded 

 the delicious fragrance they exhale, and the length of time they endure, this 

 plant must unquestionably be regarded as one of the most interesting and 

 delightful of Flora's productions. 



A very considerable number of the orchidaceous tribe of plants are epiphytes, 

 that is, they grow upon other plants, attaching themselves to the branches of 

 trees, or to fallen and decayed timber in tropical regions. The genera Aerides, 

 Vanda, and Renanthera, are of this description, and have been long known to 

 botanists under the common appellation of " Air Plants,'''' from the circumstance 

 of their deriving their nourishment chiefly from the atmosphere through the 

 medium of their fleshy, tortuous, absorbent roots. They appear, in fact, to possess 

 this power in a more marked degree than their congeners ; for it is well known 

 that the Chinese and other Eastern nations are in the habit of removing these 

 plants from the place of their growth, and suspending them in their apartments, 

 where they will remain in perfection for many weeks, or, in some instances, even 

 for many months ; and by the delicacy or richness of their colours, or by the 

 diffusion of the most exquisite odours, commanding the admiration of every 

 spectator. 



The epiphyte must consequently be regarded as differing manifestly from the 

 parasite ; for while the former (like our present plant) simply grasps with its roots 

 the plant upon which it vegetates, and upon which it may be said to depend 

 merely for its locality, the latter (like the mistletoe, viscum album) not only 

 grows upon other trees, but becomes actually united with and derives its nourish- 

 ment from the tree upon which it lives. 



The generic name, Aerides, is derived from aer, the air ; in allusion to the 

 power possessed by the species of this, as well as many other orchidaceous genera, 

 of living apparently by atmospheric absorption. The specific name, odoratum, 

 refers to the fragrance for which it is remarkable. 



Fig. 1, the 2-celled anther-case ; 2, anterior view of the pollen-masses, cau- 

 dicula, and gland ; posterior view of the same. 



