THE ORCHID FAMILY 
[ORDER LXXIX. ORCHIDACE^] 
In this order we have to deal with flowers 
which consist of 2 parts only, the 
PERIANTH and the COLUMN, the 
Column being the combination of the 
stamens and pistil. 
PERIANTH in 2 rows, united together into 
a tube which is combined with the seed- 
case, and separating into an outer and an 
inner limb, all usually petal-like (petaloid) ; 
the outer limb is divided into 3 lobes, all 
much the same size ; the inner limb is also 
divided into 3 lobes, which are irregular ; 
the 2 side ones are similar to those of the 
outer limb, but the uppermost — which in 
the British species is usually the lowermost 
owing to the twisting of the seedcase or of 
the flower-stalk — is very different from the 
other two, being larger, often 3-lobed, and 
usually spurred at the base, and is called 
the LABELLUM or Lip. 
The COLUMN is composed of 3 STAMENS 
and the PISTIL, which are combined 
together. The 2 side stamens do not 
produce pollen (abortive) except in the 
genus Cypripedium when the 2 side 
stamens bear pollen and the central one 
does not. The anthers are 2-celled and 
are situated on the style itself above the 
stigma ; the pollen is powdery, or more 
often waxy, and coheres into 2 club-shaped 
masses called POLLINIA, which are often 
supported by a stalk which is called the 
CAUDICLE. PISTIL of 3 CARPELS, 
united into a long 1 -celled seedcase, 1 style 
and a stigma. The seedcase is combined 
with the perianth-tube, and is often so 
twisted as to invert the flower and so long 
as to be mistaken for a stalk ; it is 
surmounted with the style and stamens 
cohering together and so forming the 
column, and is sometimes extended below 
the anther into a process called the 
ROSTELLUM, below which is the stigma, 
a sticky surface in front of the column. 
FRUIT a dry capsule, opening by 3 valves 
from the top down the sides (rarely a 
berry), I -celled, many-seeded, the seeds 
being minute, dust-like, and attached to 
3 cushions on the inner surface of the 
cell-wall (parietal placentae), which are 
alternate with 3 ribs which bear no 
seeds. 
FLOWERS, in the British species, red, 
pink, purple, white, yellow, or greenish, 
in a spike or simple cluster (raceme), with 
a bract at the base of each flower. 
LEAVES sheathing at the base, entire, with 
parallel veins, often all from the root 
(radical). 
ROOTS usually tuberous. 
DISTINGUISHED by the combining of the 
stamens and stigma into a central column. 
T HE Orchid Tribe is the most wonderful order we have. It is easily distinguished from all 
others by the structure of the flowers, by the combination of the stamens and pistil into a 
central column, and by the lip or labellum of the 6-lobed perianth. In the British Isles most of 
the species grow in the usual way in the soil, and throw up stem and leaves, which derive their 
nutriment from the soil through the root and stem ; the flowers are usually small, and are 
rendered noticeable from their being massed together in spike-like clusters. They have, of 
course, the wonderful construction peculiar to all orchids, and are so unlike the ordinary flower 
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