THE AMERICAN BOTAxNIST. 
5 
seeking new kinds. Upon those, fancy prices range easily 
into thousands of dollars for a single plant. 
The most-sought exotics are nearly always air plants 
or epiphytes, as are also many gorgeous members of the 
pineapple family (Bromeliaceae). It is the practice of such 
plants to attach thetuselves to some other plant, or even in- 
organic support, from which they derive no nutriment what- 
ever. They are nourished by the air, and possibly by what- 
ever the peculiar spongy roots can obtain from rain or dew. 
In our finer hot-houses we see them hung in mid-air, at- 
tached to bits of cork or in wicker-work baskets, filled with 
sphagnum. The large pseudo-bulbs of these foreign species 
at once attract the visitors' attention, as do likewise the 
They are in no sense parasites ; they commit no theft, 
only using neighboring plants for physical support; hence, 
they are of noble character. Parasitism is never commenda- 
ble. All air plants are not, then, orchids. The writer often 
finds a misconception about this. Again, all orchids are not 
air plants ; none of our native ones at the North are so. 
What, then, constitutes an orchid? How is one to 
know them? 
In the first place, they are monocotyledons or endo- 
gens. with parallel-veined leaves, one seed-leaf to the em- 
bryo, and stems of the general character of Indian com, i. e., 
with no rings. They show also the characteristic numerical 
flower-plan of their class, the number six, though this is not 
carried out in full, as in a lily, or tulip, or iris. 
In the orchids, one of the six perianth divisions dififers 
essentially from the others, forming the labellum or lip. This 
is really the upper sepal, but by a twist of the ovary it is 
in most cases brought to the bottom of the flower. It may be 
merely fringed or ridged, or it may form a sac, or be hol- 
lowed into a bucket. It is frequently made attractive by 
