102 "' THE FLORIST AND 
STUDIES ON THE ORCHIDS.* 
It is not less true that the warmest countries of Asia offer to amateurs a 
t 
certain number of species whose magnificence is incontestible, and which 
require, taken all together, a more elevated temperature and more moisture 
during their period of growth than the generality of American species. The 
V^anda Aeriides, Saccolabium, Dendrohium, Oalantlie^ Phajus, Phalaen- 
opsis, Coelogyne, Renanthera, ^c, are besides so brilliant, so superior, that 
we perfectly appreciate the especial care which is lavished upon them in 
England, the only country which possesses them in large number and 
strong specimens. We can assimilate to them in culture the small number 
of species, more curious than really beautiful, furnished by intertropical 
Africa. 
It must also be noticed that all the species of the genera we have just 
named, or at least the greater number, come from the torrid regions of 
Asia, and require, to grow and flower in our houses, an excessive heat. 
But then the Pendrobium, the Calanthe, the Phajus, and perhaps other 
genera of which we are ignorant, venture some of their species into China, 
Japan, New Holland, &c., far beyond the tropics; and many species, far 
from confining themselves to the coast of Hindostan and the Asiatic islands, 
love to elevate themselves on the plains of the interior, and seek, even in 
the sub-himalayan districts, more temperate climates. Thus the magnificent 
Vanda eoerulea grows in the north-east of India at 3,500 English feet of 
supra-marine altitude, in the region of the oaks and pines. J^anda Crriffi- 
thii has been found at 1,650 feet, and according to Dr. Lindley, who 
furnishes these data, several others come from Nepaul, China, and other 
temperate countries. The Coelogyne Wallichii is an inhabitant of moun- 
tains ; the Q. praecox is from Upper Nepaul, much outside the tropics. 
The greater part of the Pendrobium is native of the sub-himalayan districts 
of the north of India, in latitudes and at altitudes where there is nothing 
but temperate climates. 
From these observations, to which it would be easy to join a great number 
of other facts, it is possible to conclude that the amateur who has a hot 
house principally destined to contain American orchids, can add to them 
without fear of disappointment a large part of their brilliant Asiatic rivals. 
The American continent is divided in its whole length by an immense 
* Etudes sur les Orchidees , par M. P. E. De Puydt. Flore des Serres. Continued from 
page 60. » 
