84 NATIVE FLOWERS OF VICTORIA. 
CHAPTER XI. 
Orchids. 
O RCHIDS are the aristocrats in the plant world. 
They are more valued than any other plants, 
and command the highest prices possible. Even 
in the days when the flower world went almost mad 
over tulips, and hundreds of pounds were paid for a 
bulb, and when on one occasion one bulb was sold for 
four thousand six hundred florins, a new carriage, two 
grey horses and harness complete, it is doubtful 
whether tulips ever reached the monetary value that 
orchids have reached in the present day. Orchids 
have been bought for many hundreds of pounds. A 
good collection of orchids is worth tens of thousands 
of pounds, and the discovery of a new orchid creates 
world-wide interest. 
But we have none of these orchids in Victoria. 
These orchids grow in tropical climates, and are 
found growing upon trees. For that reason they are 
called epiphytal or epiphytes. There is one epiphytal 
orchid in Victoria, Sarcochilus parviflorus, and that 
is found growing on the trunks and limbs of the trees 
in the shady nooks and jungles of Gippsland, from 
Dandenong through to Orbost and New South Wales, 
and also in the Cape Otway Ranges of Victoria. It 
is a delicately-tinted small white flower, with pink 
and yellow spots and markings. The whole plant 
may be held in one’s hand, a plant of a dozen leaves 
and flowers, but its daintiness is undisputed. 
