366 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[OCTOBEH, 
A GROUP OP 
[COPYEIQIIT SECUEED.] 
ORCHIDS.— Engraved for the American Agriculturist, after a Painting from Nature by W. J. Hayes, N. A- 
guish the Orchids. In a general way, it may- 
be stated that the flowers are irregular, and that 
one of the petals is usually of a form strikingly 
different from the others. This is called the 
lip, and it is often fringed, cut, or curiously di- 
lated. In the Lady's Slipper, already referred 
to, it forms a large bag or sac. There is usually 
but one stamen (sometimes two), which is 
curiously joined with the pistil, and forms 
what is called the column. The pollen, instead 
of beiug a fine powder, as in most plants, is 
all united into a coherent pear-shaped mass. 
The mimetic tendency of the flowers of some 
Orchids is remarkable, and they imitate the 
shapes of insects and spiders so closely, that 
those strong in the belief that animals origin- 
ally sprung from plants, might look upon some 
of the Orchids as plants well on their way to- 
wards developing as spiders, butterflies, etc. 
One of the most conspicuous is the Butterfly Or- 
chis, Oncidium, of which two species are shown, 
one in the lower partof the picture, and the other 
at the right hand, as well as at the top. The 
parts of the flower represent an insect's wings, 
and long feelers. Still more striking, as well as 
more rare, is the white flower in the upper 
part of the engraving; here the parts of the 
flower form a shell -like cup of the purest white, 
within which is the column, shaped so like a 
dove as to require no imagination to help out 
the resemblance. In Central America, this is 
called El Spirito Santo, or Holy Ghost plant, 
from the association of the form of the dove with 
the artistic attempts to represent the Holy Spirit. 
It was formerly supposed that Orchids could 
only be grown in a house of high temperature, 
but of late years it has been found that many of 
these do as well, or even better, under what is 
called the cool treatment, and now some very 
fine species are successfully cultivated at the 
ordinary green-house temperature. This be- 
ing the case, we hope to see them less rare. 
