jDoints at the base, and three elevated veins. Ovary cohering with the 
prolonged spur of the labellum, so as to form a cuniculus. 
Popular and Geographical Notice. The very extensive genus 
Epidendrum, containing nearly one hundred species^, is peculiar to the 
New World, more especially the Southern part of America, and the 
West Indian Islands; several are natives of Mexico, but scarcely any 
extend farther North; yet the only epiphyte in the United States 
belongs to this genus, viz. Epidendrum conopseum (Robert Brown), 
which is found on the Magnolias of Carolina and Georgia, and hence 
sometimes called Epidendrum Magnolise. The species now figured 
grows on trees among the mountains of the Western side of the island 
of Jamaica, Many species of Epidendrum are remarkable for the ex¬ 
quisite odour of their flowers, which they are most apt to diffuse in the 
evening or during the night. Of such is the one now before us, which 
is thus among the number of the plants 
“ That keep 
Their odour to themselves all day, 
But when the sun-light dies aw^ay, 
Let the delicious secret out, 
To every breeze that roams about.” 
Moore. 
Introduction; Where grown ; Culture. Brought to England 
in 1793. The plant from which our drawing was made flowered in the 
rich collection of the Messrs. Loddiges, at Hackney. It grows in a 
pot on the stage of the stove, and requires sandy loam, with a large 
quantity of potsherds at the bottom, to ensure free drainage, which is 
the great requisite of these plants ; or it may be suspended from the 
roof, attached to a branch. 
Derivation of the Names. 
Epidendrum, from eTTi upon, and devdpov a tree, the habitat being on the stems 
or branches of trees. Nutans, from the nodding appearance of the group of 
flowers. 
Synonymes. 
Epidendruai nutans. Swartz : Prodromus descriptionum vegetabilium Indise 
occidentalis, 121. Flora Indies occidentalis, t. 1499. Willdenow : No. 13. 
Hooker: Exotic Botany, I, t. 50. Bindley: Genera and species of Orchide- 
ous plants, p. 105, 
