LURE OF THE ORCHID.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 122, 25 May 1932, Page 6

LURE OF THE ORCHID.

NATURAL AND CULTIVATED KINDS. (By A.W.) Tlio transference from the Ellerslie gardens to tlic Domain of the Auckland Racing Club's valuable gift of orchids to the city has awakened local interest in this most remarkable of flowers. The orchid holds a unique place in popular estimation; it is surrounded by an aura, of wealth, adventure and romance. Nature secluded the most desirable species in tropical regions difficult of access, mainly the mountainous parte of Sumatra, Borneo, Malaya, India and Central America. The money rewards attaching to their collection were considerable, and the work attracted a band of l intrepid and adventurous explorers. Around their travels and experiences a literature of hair-raising adventures and escapes grew up. Quite legitimately, in spito of the gibe that whenever a hero was needed to ford unfordablo- rivers, to climb unclim'bable mountains, or cross uncrossablo swamps, it was only necessary to make him an orchid hunter. The big lintis engaged in the business maintained agents in every part of the globe where the plants were found, and, all fiction and exaggeration aside, the experiences of these men made remarkable reading. A book written back in 1801, "The Travels and Adventures of an Orchid Hunter," gives a good idea of the work. The region dealt with was in the lower Andes, round the upper reaches of Magdalena River, in Colombia. Even at that period collectors had been so active that all places reasonably accessible had been already stripped of the plants. After a long canoe journey where some of the number were killed by poisoned arrows shot from the heavily-forested banks of the river, the author and his retinue of native helpers had to make their way 200 miles through the florest to the altitude at which the finest orchids are found. The cattleyas, to which species most of the largest and showiest blooms belong, were collected at about 3;>00 feet elevation. The odontoglossiums, epiphytic orchids, which flower in long sprays, necessitated a miuch longer journey, their altitude being from 7000 to 9000 feet. Naturally a few odd plants was not considered sufficient reward for such an undertaking. The stripping of the region was a thorough and systematic business, so that the next collector who happened along would have to go still further afield. Two months were spent in the forest in obtaining odontoglossums alone, the thirty natives engaged cutting down 4000 trees to secure the bag of 10,000 plants. These had to bo packed a five days' journey through the forest on men's backs before they could even be packed in boxes for transport to tho coast and thence shipped to England. Although tho author admits that it is rare to find any great display of orchids in bloom in the forest at one time, he had one great moment in the finding of a monster plant with at least 500 bulbs and as many as 100 spikes of flowers, which, as it was a particularly gorgeous cattleya, was a sight worth enduring hardship and danger to see. Where the orchid differed from most other flowers at tlio height of its popularity was that Nature delivered the perfected article, whereas most garden favourites owe their beauty to a patient process of cultivation. It did not take horticulturists long to discover that hybridisation methods of obtaining new varieties could be extended to the orchid, with the result that with the first successful experiments over half a century ago the romance of the orchid hunter passed. Most of the new species now exhibited are hybrids raised in captivity. The ingrained belief in the rarity of orchids receives a shock on learning that there are now about 8000 species in cultivation. Of these only one, the vanilla, used in flavouring, serves any economic purpose. New Zealand itself has over fiO species, but with the modesty that characterises Nature, at least in our country, these are all unobtrusive in form. The only one easily recognisable os an orchid is the pale-green flower with lons' wings, a ground species. The commonest of all are the rather scraggy-looking tree dwellers seen in every clump of bush, with long sprays of small, white flowers, often sweetscented. Perhans the prettiest are the pink and blue hvacinth-like forms, plentiful in the scrubcovered clay country of tho North Island.