Orchids

Orchids

By

0
(0 Reviews)
Orchids by James O'Brien

Pages:

109

Downloads:

2,073

Share This

Orchids

By

0
(0 Reviews)
In the early days of Orchid cultivation the idea was commonly entertained that these interesting plants could never become popular with the general public, for the reason that their culture involves a great initial outlay and permanent expense. That such an idea is incompatible with the facts is now admitted by all those who are most familiar with the subject. There is no department of "Present-Day" gardening that exhibits such wonderful progress as is shown in the Orchid gardens and nurseries that are to be found in every portion of these Isles.

Book Excerpt

egments of the flowers of Amaryllids and Lilies, with their prominent pistils and anthers. The first stage in the advance of the Orchid family is shown in the Apostasieæ, comprising Apostasia, Neuwiedia and Adactylus, in which the perianth segments are more or less regular and the anthers in some degree prominent, Neuwiedia, with its free stamens and prominent style, appearing at first sight nearer to some of the Amaryllids than to the Orchideæ commonly seen in gardens.

The Cypripedieæ, although so widely separated from other sections as to suggest that in the operations of nature a vast number of connecting types must have become extinct, is the next step, the labellum being formed into a pouch with infolded side lobes. The column has a prominent staminode with two fertile anthers below it, one on each side of the column and behind the stigmatic plate. The upper sepal is frequently the showiest feature in the flower; the lower sepals are joined and arranged