394 
a rod extending from rafter to rafter, tlie length of the 
house, with the numerous branches hanging down some 
two or three feet; others shorter, hut all forming pretty 
objects in or out of bloom; and I will defy a gardener 
to make it look well as a climber, which it certainly is 
not.—E, Y. 
NEW PLANTS. 
THEIB POETBAITS AND BIOGBAPHIES. 
Lemon-scented Toothed-tongue (Odontoglossum 
citrosmum). —There is a beautiful coloured representa¬ 
tion of this very handsome orchid in the last December 
number of the Gardeners Magazine of Botany, ii. 2C1. 
The genus Odontoglossum originated with Humboldt, 
Bonpland, and Kuth, and the subject of our present 
biography was named by Dr. Lindley some ten years 
back. The genus is only a slight remove from Oncidium, 
and the difference is well expressed by the Greek com¬ 
pound Odontoglossum, which is in allusion to the tooth¬ 
like processes at the base of the labelhun, from odous, a 
tooth, and glossa, a tongue. These toothings are not 
met with in Oncidium, and they take various forms in 
the different species of Odontoglossum or Toothed- 
tongue. In citrosmum there are two of them in the form 
of fleshy plates at the bottom of the lip, and parallel 
with the column, or the organ of reproduction. In 
every other respect, and with common observers, the 
flowers might easily be taken for those of a handsome 
Oncidium; and this close resemblance to the Oncids 
rims through all the species of Toothed-tongue. 
Before we pass from this part of the plant, we may remark 
that the structure of the parts which compose the flowers of 
orchids is widely at variance from what is usually met with 
[Mabch 27. 
in this part of plants. In orchids there are no central pistils, 
with a certain number of stamens disposed round them, as 
in other flowering plants ; hut in place of them there is a 
central column on which is home the fertilising pollen, and 
the stigma on which the pollen acts before the ovary is fer¬ 
tilised. On the top of this column is placed a solitary 
anther or pollen pouch, and below this anther there is a 
moist cavity in the front of the column, which is the true 
stigma. The length and shape of this fleshy column varies 
exceedingly in different genera, passing occasionally far 
beyond the perianth or flower-leaves; it is composed of three 
stamens consolidated; the two outside ones being imper¬ 
fectly developed and barren in the great number of the 
order. In the Cypripedium section, of which Cypripedium 
itself is the only genus about which anything certain is 
known, the two lateral anthers are fertile, and the middle 
one is barren ; hence the first clue to the triandrous, or 
three-anthera character of all orchids, notwithstanding their 
being monandrous, or one anthered, by defect; and hence, 
too, the foundation of a natural disposition of the genera 
into allied groups. The true nature of the anther having 
been ascertained, the groups, or sections, are founded 
chiefly on the different forms which the pollen grains or 
masses assume ; for, like the rest of these curiously con¬ 
structed flowers, the pollen differs widely from the usual 
granulous form or powdery matter met with in other plants. 
The genus Odontoglossum is peculiarly a South American 
one, the greater number of species coming from Mexico and 
Guatemala, and some from the north of the equator, on the 
east side, and considerably beyond it on the west side of the 
great Andes chain; and gardeners have found out, in prac¬ 
tice, that orchids from these regions do better in a compara¬ 
tively low dry temperature, after they have ripened a sea¬ 
son’s growth, and that large portions of fresh air are need¬ 
ful for them during this period; but as soon as they natu¬ 
rally begin to grow afresh, a high moist atmosphere, with 
less air and absence from the direct rays of the sun, are 
highly conducive to a full development of all their parts. 
Odontoglossum citrosmum is a native of Guatemala, whence it 
was introduced about ten years ago by the late Mr. Barker, 
of Birmingham, through Mr. Eoss, his plant collector; but 
it flowered first near Macclesfield, with Mr. Brocklehurst, to 
whom Mr. Barker had presented the plant. This plant was 
exhibited before the London Horticultural Society in the 
summer of 1842, when it was named by Dr. Lindley. The 
plant is said not to be difficult to manage, and if that be so, 
judging from what we know of the great exhibitions round 
London, it is not nearly cultivated to the extent its charm¬ 
ing flowers would lead us to believe. It is difficult to con¬ 
ceive a more handsome orchid. The flower raceme rises at 
first from the bottom of the pseudo bulbs, and then turns 
over gracefully to one side, producing a host of lemon- 
scented flowers of a white and lilac colour along more than 
half its length. The pseudo-bulbs are large, fleshy, and 
somewhat flattened, having two leaves on the top, but not so 
long as the raceme; the whole plant having a green healthy 
look. 
Bulbs, smooth, roundish, flattened; leaves, two, strap¬ 
shaped, blunt, and like the bulbs deep green; sepals, tongue- 
shaped, wavy, white, tinged with lilac ; lip, clawed, somewhat 
kidney-shaped, lilac, two-pimpled, and yellow at the base, 
—B. J. 
THE ERUIT-GARDEN. 
Stbawbeebies. —We ought to have said something on ' 
this head a fortnight since, for we hold it good practice 
to go over all strawberry beds or rows in tlie first week 
of March, and afford them a good dressing, for all will 
need assistance of some kind. 
It has been long since shown that autumn trimming 
is a very unwise procedure, as tending to starve, nay, in 
many cases to destroy, the crowns; or so to paralyse 
their energies, that a partial barrenness may he the 
result. A little consideration will make this manifest to 
even a young beginner; for, if good gardeners cover 
their strawberry plants in pots with dry litter in order 
to protect both root and crown, why not leave all the 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
