72 
A NURSERY OF ORCHIDS. 
water which has been taken up by the roots, and is hurrying aloft to 
be elaborated into sap, and leaf, and flower, and fruit, and fresh tissue 
for the very stem up which it originally climbed. And therefore it is 
that the woodman cuts the water-vine through first at the top of the 
piece which he wants, and not at the bottom; for so rapid is the ascent 
of the sap, that if he cut the stem below, the water would have all fled 
upwards before he could cut it off" above." 
The stranger's attention is next directed to the orchids ; that is, as 
soon as in the apparent chaos before and around him he is able to dis- 
tinguish one object from another. These are found on every tree ; 
exquisite and fantastic forms, which fill the mind with a strange sense 
of wonder. Particularly do they aff'ect the calabash,* with its slender, 
straight, intercrossing branches, and fringes of green leaves, and large 
greenish purple-streaked blossoms, and oval gourds in various stages of 
maturity. No other tree is "so great a nursery" of orchids as the 
calabash. You will find on it large masses of magnificent plants — as, 
for instance, the Oncidium Carthaginense, which is thus described: 
Large, .thick, ovate leaves, a foot and a half long, and four or five 
inches wide, without bulbs, forming immense bunches on several of the 
principal branches and their forks, from the axils of which spring pen- 
dent flower-spikes eight feet or more in length — the flowers being of 
great size, and of a yellow colour, plentifully besprinkled with red 
dots. Mention may also be made of the Anrjrcecum funale, which, 
leafless at all seasons, consists of a thick knot of contorted roots, long, 
•slender, cord-like, and glaucous in tint, except at the tips, which are of a 
bright yellow-green. Most of these roots droop irregularly ; but such 
as touch the bark of the tree grow to it, flattening themselves on the 
side which is in contact, and adhering so tenaciously that they cannot 
be detached without an efibrt that frequently breaks the root. This 
adhesive habit is characteristic of the I'oots of many orchids, and may 
be accepted as an evidence of design ; the object being to provide 
the plant with a secure holdfast in situations, such as the smooth trunk 
of a tree, where it would otherwise be impossible. The Angrcecum 
throws out its flowers all the year round ; not in spikes or clusters, but 
* Crescentia cujete. 
