46 THE AUSTRALIAN “NATURALIST. ; 
flowers, is an ofnament to any garden. And yet it is far 
less beautiful than many of the exotic species which in our 
chmate require to be grown under glass, or even some 
‘which in the Sydney district flourish well in the open air. 
Nowhere among plants, not even among the lilies, are 
to be found a more charming variety and purity of colour- 
ing. The loveliest of whites, reds, yellows, browns, 
mauves, golds, and blues are to be found, and are often 
contrasted in the same flower. ; 
The shapes of the flowers of orchids are as varied as 
their colours, and while probably the greater proportion 
have no perfume, in many it is delightful. Jn an odd one 
the odour is not pleasant; one that I have smells like 
medicinal rhubarb. 
Yet to my mind these plants have still more fascinat- 
ing qualities. » 
Many years ago I read Darwin’s work describing 
their mode and organs of fertilisation, and was so struck. 
by what I read that I determined to grow orchids, and. 
I have never regretted my decision. The mode and 
organs of fertilisation are utterly different to those of 
other plants. In a state of nature, there is no fertilisa- 
tion by wind; this work must be carried out by insect 
agency. <A bee, a butterfly, a moth or beetle, which, in 
search of nectar or the edible part of the flower, incident- 
ally lifts the lid of a little case in which are enclosed the 
pollen masses attached to a Y-shaped pedicel. The lid 
springs up, and the pedicel, to which the pollen masses ~ 
are attached, adheres to the insect like pitch. When the 
insect carrying the pollen masses visits the next flower, 
these are pressed against the sticky surface of the stigma, 
which the insect is compelled to pass, and to which the 
pollen masses adhere, and so the flower is fertilised. In 
most orchids the flowers, when not fertilised, will remain 
open for a long time, some for as long as three weeks; if 
fertilised, they droop within twenty-four hours. 
It has been recorded that a butterfly has been found 
so weighted with the tiny pedicels on its proboscis as to 
be unable to fly; it must have visited over a- hundred 
flowers. 
' Many of the flowers are so constructed that the-visit- — 
ing insect must take a fixed route to obtain ‘the nectar, 
’ 5 
