SKETCHES OF WILD ORCHIDS IN GUIANA. 



41 



expect too much of me, I will add that the showiness of any 

 particular species is but a small merit in my eyes. I have spent 

 many more hours and much more thought over what I over- 

 heard a very famous English horticulturist, a few weeks ago, 

 at one of the shows in the Drill Hall, refer to as " rubbish, or, 

 as we will call them, 'botanical curiosities,'" than over the 

 more showy plants. And, though to admit this is probably to 

 destroy my own character for sanity, I am firmly convinced that 

 the rational being would get far more delight out of the 

 marvellous diversities and marvellous adaptations of some of my 

 tiniest Orchids than out of the most splendid flower which, as 

 the West Indian negro says, "fills the eye." But I promise 

 that I will not here draw upon my experiences of the more 

 minute aspects of Orchid life except in so far as this may be 

 made to serve the purpose which I have in view in this paper of 

 illustrating the natural conditions under which Orchids grow in 

 Guiana. 



The usual idea of the inexperienced is that Guiana is a land 

 of Orchids ; and so it is, but not of showy Orchids. It is doubt- 

 ful if there exist in British Guiana a dozen different Orchids 

 which the ordinary Orchid grower would care to have in his 

 houses. Let me try what sort of list I can put together of the 

 so-called desirable species. I should myself be inclined to put 

 Oncidium lanceanum first for three reasons : (1) because it is 

 a fairly common and accessible Orchid ; (2) because of the great 

 beauty both of plant and flower ; and (3) because of the lasting 

 quality of the flower. Then the two Cattleyas (C. sujierba and 

 C. Lawrenciana) would come, though neither is easy to get ; 

 Zygopetalum rostratum — one of the commonest Orchids of the 

 country — certainly merits a place ; Zygopetahim venustum and 

 Z. Burkei also come in ; as does Paphinia cristata, Ionopsis 

 paniculata, Bodriguezia [Burling tonia) Candida, and perhaps 

 Catasetiim longifolium. I doubt if there are any other 

 " Gardener's Orchids " in British Guiana. And yet the number 

 of species from Guiana to which I have devoted some attention is 

 nearly 300, and many of these are very beautiful things even 

 without the use of the microscope. 



It may be well here to premise that the part of Guiana to 

 which I shall refer lies entirely between 7 and 8 degrees N. of 

 the Equator, and that, though the country does rise to a greater 



