ried since, I charitably hope, for a more rubbishing bloom does not
exist. But there it was--_Ego feci_! And the specimen in the Herbarium
at Kew bears my name.

But legends should not be disregarded when it is certain that they reach
us from a native source. Some of the most striking finds had been
announced long since by observant savages. I have told the story of
_Phaloenopsis Sanderiana_. It was a Zulu who put the discoverer of the
new yellow Calla on the track. The blue Utricularia had been heard of
and discredited long before it was found--Utricularias are not orchids
indeed, but only botanists regard the distinction. The natives of Assam
persistently assert that a bright yellow Cymbidium grows there, of
supremest beauty, and we expect it to turn up one day; the Malagasy
describe a scarlet one. But I am digressing.

Epidendrums mostly will bear as much heat as can be given them while
growing; all demand more sunshine than they can get in our climate.
Amateurs do not seem to be so well acquainted with the grand things of
this genus as they should be. They distrust all imported Epidendrums.
Many worthless species, indeed, bear a perplexing resemblance to the
finest; so much so, that the most observant of authorities would not
think of buying at the auction-room unless he had confidence enough in
the seller's honesty to accept his description of a "lot." Gloriously
beautiful, however, are some of those rarely met with; easy to cultivate
also, in a sunny place, and not dear. _Epid. rhizophorum_ has been
lately rechristened _Epid. radicans_--a name which might be confined to
the Mexican variety. For the plant recurs in Brazil, practically the
same, but with a certain difference. The former grows on shrubs, a true
epiphyte; the latter has its bottom roots in the soil, at foot of the
tallest trees, and runs up to the very summit, perhaps a hundred and
fifty feet. The flowers also show a distinction, but in effect they are
brilliant orange-red, the lip yellow, edged with scarlet. Forty or fifty
of them hanging in a cluster from the top of the raceme make a show to
remember. Mr. Watson "saw a plant a few years ago, that bore eighty-six
heads of flowers!" They last for three months. _Epid. prismatocarpum_,
also, is a lovely thing, with narrow dagger-like sepals and petals,
creamy-yellow, spotted black, lip mauve or violet, edged with pale
yellow.

Of the many hot Dendrobiums, Australia supplies a good proportion. There
i