That part of the
cavity which is visible between the handsome incurved wings has bold
stripes of dark crimson. The species is interesting, too. It comes from
Honduras, where the children use its great hollow pseudo-bulbs as
trumpets--whence the name. At their base is a hole--a touch-hole, as we
may say, the utility of which defies our botanists. Had Mr. Belt
travelled in those parts, he might have discovered the secret, as in the
similar case of the Bullthorn, one of the _Gummiferae_. The great thorns
of that bush have just such a hole, and Mr. Belt proved by lengthy
observations that it is designed, to speak roughly, for the ingress of
an ant peculiar to that acacia, whose duty it is to defend the young
shoots--_vide_ Belt's "Naturalist in Nicaragua," page 218. Importers are
too well aware that _Schomburgkia tibicinis_ also is inhabited by an ant
of singular ferocity, for it survives the voyage, and rushes forth to
battle when the case is opened. We may suppose that it performs a like
service.
Dendrobiums are "warm" mostly; of the hot species, which are many, and
the cool, which are few, I have not to speak here. But a remark made at
the beginning of this chapter especially applies to Dendrobes. If they
be started early, so that the young growths are well advanced by June 1;
if the situation be warm, and a part of the house sunny--if they be
placed in that part without any shade till July, and freely
syringed--with a little extra attention many of them will do well
enough.
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