THE ORCHID WORLD. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 
ORCHIDS OR MUSHROOMS. 
Which will you have ? 
An enthusiastic would-be seed-raiser has been 
experimenting with what he thought was the 
necessary fungus for producing the germina- 
tion of orchid seed, and that if this was indis- 
pensable it should be found on the imported 
bulbs. For this reason he obtained some 
recently imported Odontoglussnm crispum 
bulbs and laid them on fresh oak-leaves that 
had been gathered from a neighbouring field, 
the whole 
being placed 
in his cool 
greenhouse, 
with the idea 
that the fungus 
would spread 
from the bulbs 
on to the 
leaves, and 
that these 
could after- 
wards be used 
for the purpose 
of seed-raising. 
After a few 
days the fun- 
gus threads 
could be seen 
with the naked 
A mushroom growing on an Orchid. 
eye, and every good hope was given of the 
secret being brought to light. Our enthu- 
siast watched with intense interest the growth 
day by day, until one moist morning he was 
greatly surprised to find a supply of common 
mushrooms growing all over the bulbs, and 
sufficient to give him an appetising breakfast. 
The reason of this is not far to seek. In 
gathering up the oak-leaves he had uncon- 
sciously swept up some mushroom spawn, 
which quickly germinated in the warmer 
atmosphere of his greenhouse. 
This subject of fungus co-operation in the 
raising of orchid seedlings is receiving serious 
study on the Continent. Mr. Noel Bernard 
contributes to 
the " Annales 
des Sciences 
N a t u re 1 1 e s, 
B o t a n ique " 
(igoQ, pp. I- 
1 96), a 1 o n g 
article dealing 
fully with this 
i n t e rest i n g 
subject. It is 
entitled " L'- 
E \' o 1 u t i o n 
dans la sym- 
biose les orchi- 
dees et leur 
ch ampigiions 
commensaux," 
illustrated 
with twenty- 
eight figures. 
Dr. Hans Burgeff, of Jena, has recently 
written a book on the same subject, under the 
title " Die Wurzelpilze den Orchideeri, ihre 
Kulture und ihr Leben in der Pfianze." 
ORCHIS USTULATA (the Scorched Orchid). 
Not many lovers of our native orchids have 
been fortunate enough to sse this sweet little 
plant growing in its native wilds. Clo'se to 
where the new road along the chalk cliffs 
from Dover to St. Margaret's Bay is just now 
being cut out there occur a few isolated 
clumps of this curious orchid, the flower of 
which has a decidedly scorched appearance, 
and from which the popular name of the plant 
is derived. It is of very diminutive growth. 
rarely exceeding four to five inches in height, 
with a dense spike half the length of the 
whole plant. The flowens are dark purple, 
particularly the unexpanded ones, with a 
white, purple-spotted lip, and exceedingly 
short spur. Occurring in usually dry, open 
pasture land, often on chalky soil, this sweet 
little plant occurs only in England, having so 
far been detected neither in Scotland nor 
Ireland. 
A. D. Webster. 
