WHERE ORCHIDS ARE AT HOME 
E. H. WILSON 
Assistant Director of the Arnold Arboretum; author of “ Romance of Our Trees,” “Aristocrats of the 
Garden,” “A Naturalist in Western China,” “Travel Tales of a Plant Collector,” and other works 
II. TROPICAL ORCHIDS OF THE NEW WORLD 
[Part /, Orchids of the Old World, appeared in May\ 
A Little Mexican Orchid Which Furnishes the Cook with Vanilla—Gay and Sweet- 
scented Natives of Two Americas Sometimes Also Arrestingly Beautiful and Bizarre 
Editors’ Note: The amazingly spectacular and instructive exhibition of Orchids recently staged in Boston by the American Orchid Society (see detailed account 
page 363) drew visitors literally by thousands, offering unprecedented proof of the popular interest in this flower so long considered an exclusive interest of “the 
idle rich.” Gardening too, it would seem, reflects the general upward trend of living standards which continually metamorphose the luxuries of yesterday into the 
necessities of to-day, and anybody with six spare feet of space may grow Orchids all their own (see Mrs. Henry’s article on page 339 of this issue). From Mr. Wil¬ 
son’s accurately detailed descriptions of some of the outstanding Orchid species native to the western hemisphere, an idea may be formed of the wide and fascinating 
variations of this plant family and a few of us at least will be spurred to lure these tropical delights to an abiding place in our northern homes. 
M ROM the tropics of the New World our gardens have 
received some of the showiest and most popular Or¬ 
chids known. The Cattleyas, Laelias, Oncidiums, 
Odontoglossums, Miltonias, Masdevallias and many 
other favorite genera are all natives of the American continent. 
The first exotic Orchid introduced into 
Great Britain was Bletia verecunda from 
the Bahamas in 1731, and the species still 
finds a place in the collection at Kew 
Gardens. It is a comparatively insignifi¬ 
cant thing with erect racemose purple 
flowers, but of great historical interest. 
The only Orchid of real economic im¬ 
portance is Vanilla planifolia, a climbing 
plant native of Mexico but now much 
cultivated in the tropics of the Old World. 
It is a member of a small genus, mostly 
South American. The well-known spice 
or flavoring agent (vanilla) is obtained 
from the fruit which is a long fleshy 
capsule, slightly yellow when ripe, but 
before the pods are ready for market they 
are subjected to a curing process during 
which the characteristic odor is developed. 
The aroma and flavor are chiefly due to 
the presence of a substance, known as 
vanillin, contained in a balsamic oil which 
gradually permeates the whole fruit and 
slowly accumulates as crystals on the out¬ 
side of the cured pods. The plant has a 
round green stem, fleshy, elliptic leaves 
and insignificant flowers, and is an inhabi¬ 
tant of hot swampy regions. 
The giants of the American Orchid 
world are the Sobralias which are found 
on mountains from Mexico to Peru. They 
have slender cane-like stems from 6 to 
12 ft. tall, well furnished with rather thin, 
dark green, lance-shaped leaves, which ter¬ 
minate in large Cattleya-like flowers. One 
of the best known species is A. macrantha 
with rich red-purple to' crimson flowers. 
The Costa Rican A. leucoxantha has white 
sepals and petals and a yellow lip flushed 
with orange. 
Some Kings of the Orchid World 
ING of the Orchid World is Cattleya, a 
small genus of probably less than fifty 
species natives of Central America, south to 
Brazil. All have large and brightly colored 
flowers the lip of which possesses much character, being often fringed 
and intensely colored. The lip encloses the column but is not united 
to it, and from its base a nectary runs down into the ovary. The 
familiar C. labiata is one of the finest of all species and very amenable 
under cultivation. Native of Brazil, it flowers in October and Novem¬ 
ber. It and its numerous forms are among the 
most common Orchids grown and need neither 
description nor praise. The variety IVarneri 
with its rich crimson-fringed lip is also Bra¬ 
zilian; the variety Gaskelliana which flowers 
in the early autumn and is sweet-scented, and 
the variety Percivaliana, which flowers in Jan¬ 
uary and February, are natives of Venezuela. 
The favorite C. Mossiae with foot-long fur¬ 
rowed pseudo-bulbs hails from La Guayra and 
is in flower from March to August. Of C. 
Mossiae and indeed of all the species, there are 
many fine forms which have received dis¬ 
tinctive names. The winter-blooming, pink- 
flowered C. Trianae hails from Colombia and 
is represented by many named varieties and 
forms. One of the best is the variety Mendelii 
with its richly colored magenta lip. From 
Colombia also comes C. gigas with short one- 
leafed pseudo-bulbs and large flowers, the 
sepals and petals of which are pink, the lip 
large and broad, rich purple or violet with a 
large yellow eye-like blotch on either side of 
the throat. Another grand species is C. 
lVarscewic{ii whose large flowers with sepals 
and petals, white flushed with purple and a 
rich crimson lip, are produced during the 
winter months. 
The Costa Rican C. Dowiana is recognized 
as one of the very finest of all Cattleyas. It 
has foot-long, furrowed, club-shaped, one- 
leafed pseudo-bulbs and bears a spike of five 
or six flowers. The sepals and petals are bright 
buff-color suffused with crimson and the lip 
dark velvety crimson streaked with golden 
yellow. The variety aurea has primrose-yellow 
sepals and petals and is native of Colombia. 
Very distinct in appearance from any of the 
above is the Brazilian C. Aclandiae with olive- 
green heavily barred and blotched with dark 
purple flowers, the lip magenta-purple. 
Orchid enthusiasts will recall dozens of 
others, but this sketch of Cattleya must end 
with mention of the remarkable C. ciirina from 
southern Mexico. This has bright yellow 
fragrant flowers produced from between a pair 
of gray-green leaves which top the small egg- 
shape pseudo-bulb. The leaves and flowers 
both hang down, contrary to the usual manner 
of plant growth. 
THE TOOTH TONGUE ORCHID 
One of the most decorative, and where it can be 
grown, one of the most useful florists’ Orchids is 
Odontoglossum crispum. It likes cool conditions 
and has been somewhat difficult to grow but 
the modern hybrids with Cochlioda have given 
it bright colors and made cultivation easier 
357 
