House Plant Orchid

The house plant orchid is among the largest and most highly developed of the plant families, with some fifteen to twenty thousand species. 

A provident nature has lavished every means to insure the perpetuation of this favorite child.

She has provided the flower with all the charm and allure of a fairy princess to win insect vassals to perform the service of cross-pollination.  Nature has decreed that the orchid should be dependent on some outside insect agent, and the resultant relation is a beautiful example of cooperation between the plant and animal kingdoms. 

The highest means of perpetuation in plants, cross-pollination is necessary in all but a very few species of orchids. In the few cases of self-pollination the seeds are frequently infertile.

The Cattleya, favored by the florist and valuable as the parent of large and showy hybrids, is perhaps the orchid best known to the public. There are over forty species of Cattleya. In their native state the plants grow in thick clusters on trees—frequently mahogany or a type of acacia—and are so well protected by giant stinging ants that the only way to harvest them is to cut down the tree.

The Cattleya plant lacks beauty to the uninitiated, being composed of longish, rounded pseudobulbs, which advance rhizome-fashion along the surface of the potting mixture, and are topped by one, two, or three long green leaves of firm leathery texture. The average Cattleya 'puts on' or grows one new pseudobulb a year. After several new bulbs have been formed the old ones tend to lose their leaves and roots, becoming backbulbs. 

These back-bulbs are frequently referred to as poor relations, owing to their habit of sapping the energy of the growing end of the plant. If severed and placed in a warm, moist spot they will usually respond by sending forth new growth and roots to start a new plant. A tiny swelling or dormant eye will be found at the base of each pseudobulb in a Cattleya plant. In proper time the eye of the youngest bulb begins to swell and break into growth, acquiring new leaves and sending out new roots. 

A new pseudobulb is formed and, in a healthy, well-cared-for plant, each will be finer and larger than the last. In case of injury to the forebulb, one of the dormant eyes of an older bulb will break. From among the leaves at the top of the new growth the flower sheath will form. Very disconcerting to the beginner is the habit of some species of growing or 'throwing' sheaths at the time the new growth is made up. 

This means that after the new bulb is completed there is a long period during which the flower sheath remains empty of buds, and the amateur despairs of ever having a flower. Some Cattleyas even have double sheaths, which also disappoint the eager grower. Finally, after repeatedly holding the plant against the light in search of buds, she is rewarded by discovering small dark spots at the base of the sheath. 

At last the flower buds are 'set' or have begun to ripen. Species differ in the length of time required for maturing or flowering. The Cattleya is among the larger and showier of the species orchids—species meaning 'native' as opposed to 'hybrid.' Coloring ranges through all shades and tints of purple, from amethyst and violet to magenta and deep red. Brown, yellow, and green species are found among the genus. Many of the species have alba varieties, whose flowers are pure white with a touch of green or yellow at the throat.

Important among the Cattleyas are the labiata group, those possessed of a fine, large lip, which makes them valuable as the progenitors of commercially desirable hybrids as well as for their own beauty and prodigality. These labiates have some representative blooming, with trustworthy regularity, at every season of the year. The intermediate or 'Cattleya' house satisfactorily serves this group.

The genus Laelia, native to Mexico and Brazil, is closely allied to Cattleya, crossing readily with it to form the exquisite Laelio-cattleya hybrids. The plant is very similar in habit and appearance; the pseudobulbs are slightly more angular, at times quite square, at others quite flat. It has many aerial roots; the new leads break in more than one direction, giving it an irregular form of growth. Either the intermediate or cooler house serves this family.

The genus Brassavola is related to Laelia and Cattleya, crossing harmoniously with them to form the exotic hybrids Brasso-cattleyas and Brassolaeliocattleyas. The plants have small pseudo-bulbs, which are frequently compressed. The flowers, usually white, or greenish-white, are not outstanding except for the very large, fringed lip, a characteristic handed down to the progeny. An intermediate, or even warmer, house will serve.

The genus Dendrobium is prolific and diverse, comprising some one hundred species, which vary greatly in size and shape. It contains D. violaceoflavens (vie-o-lay-see-o-flay-vens), with sixteen-foot pseudobulbs, and D. Schneideri (sh'ny-der-eye or ee), measured in inches. It ranges from southern Asia, particularly the Sikkhim region, through Ceylon, Malaya, Siam, China, Japan, all the large islands (the Philippines, Java, Sumatra, Borneo), and even some of the small islands, to Australia and New Zealand. A single species has been found to adjust itself to entirely different places. 

Members of the genus grow on trees, in the ground, and on bare rocks, through great extremes of temperature and elevation. Some have been found as high as 1500 to 2000 feet in Burma at 1200 F. The Dendrobium plant is unusual in appearance, being sym-podial, epiphytic, and bulbless, but possessed of heavy cane-like stems, which also produce the papery-green leaves. Especially in the deciduous types these canes store sufficient moisture and food to tide the plant over periods of extreme drought.

The genus is divided into deciduous and evergreen, which again divides into warm- and cool-growing plants. All evergreen Den-drobes (the name affectionately given the genus by orchidists) are handsome plants with their leafy, graceful foliage. They have cane-like stems, taking the place of pseudobulbs, and bear the flowers in erect panicles (clusters, as of grapes), singly at the nodes, or in drooping racemes (stems with flowers attached at intervals). Evergreen Dendrobiums may be accommodated in the warm house. Deciduous Dendrobiums are peculiar-looking plants, becoming dry and shriveled bamboo-like canes each year after the leaves drop off. Amazingly, and lovelier by contrast, the flowers bud and bloom from the nodes (joints) of these dry canes. 

Deciduous Den-drobes bloom on the old wood, and evergreen Dendrobes on the new growth. They may be accommodated in the warm house and removed to a cooler spot while resting. The genus Oncidium is a very old one. It ranges from hot coastal regions to the cold of 12,000 feet elevation. It is native to Mexico, Central and tropical South America, and the West Indies.

It has short, thick pseudobulbs and slender, graceful leaves. Though the flowers are small compared to the Cattleya, they are a spray-type of considerable grace and charm. 

The blooms are flat, of silky texture, resembling a dancing girl with wide-spread skirts and tiny waist. The clear bright yellow attained by some of the species is unsurpassed. An intermediate or cool house will serve. The possibilities of each genus are so fascinating that it is only with reluctance that we pass on to the next. The Cypripediums must be dismissed in far too short a space. 

Williams has devoted ninety-two pages to this genus as against fifty-five for the Cattleyas and fifty-four for the Dendrobiums. The amateur can only be urged to further independent research. Botanists have lately decided on a complicated division altering the nomenclature of the Cypripedium, but for the present pur-pose all species can be dealt with under the old inclusive name. Cypripediums are both evergreen and deciduous. The deciduous groups are from South America and have chiefly a specialized botanical interest. boasts Cypripediums, but not many people are aware that the modest 'lady's slipper' and 'moccasin flower' are orchids and humble sisters to the regal Cattleya. Cypripediums are to be found in some form practically all over the world.

More showy, and adaptable to greenhouse culture, the tropical Cypripediums, denizens of the Far East, are handsome plants with shiny dark-green foliage. These warmer growing types have handsomely mottled leaves. They are the parents of the rounded-petal hybrids so prized by florists. Cypripedium in its tropical forms is a genus highly recommended for amateurs. It is gratifyingly prolific, easy of culture and adaptable, and one of the few that can be grown in a dwelling.