Orchids.
The magnitude of Lindley's work among his favourite group of plants, the Orchidaceae, deserves recognition by the general botanist. Botanical knowledge with respect to the group was in a very rudimentary stage when Lindley took up its study. Robert Brown and Blume were already engaged upon the investigation of orchids, but they relied mainly on herbarium material. Lindley, on the other hand, began with living plants and ended with living plants, though, as his herbarium testifies, he did not neglect dried specimens. A circumstance that favoured Lindley in these studies was the fact that William Cattley, an early patron of Lindley, was one of the most successful of the early cultivators of epiphytic orchids.
The chief of Lindley's published contributions to the knowledge of orchids, apart from scattered figures and descriptions in the Botanical Register, the Gardeners' Chronicle, Lindley and Paxton's Flower Garden, the Journal of the Linnean Society, and in other serials and periodicals, are to be found in The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants, 1830-1840, in which are described all the species (1980) known of 299 genera; Sertum Orchidaceum (1838); Folia Orchidacea, 1852-1855; and The Vegetable Kingdom.
It is unfortunate that no attempt has as yet been made to catalogue the species described by Lindley; but with regard to genera an approximate list of those proposed by him may be attempted, and is interesting as giving some idea of the extent and value of Lindley's investigations in the group.
In the third edition of The Vegetable Kingdom he estimates the number of orchid genera at 469. Bentham and Hooker (Genera Plantarum, 1883) admit 334, and new genera proposed since that date amount to 125. Pfitzer (Engler and Prantl, Natürlichen Pflanzen-familien, 1889) describes 410.
The following is a list of Lindley's genera, admitted by Bentham and Hooker, in the sequence in which they appear in the Genera Plantarum:
Physosiphon
Brachionidium
Oberonia
Oreorchis
Sunipia
Cirrhopetalum
Megaclinium
Trias
Drymoda
Monomeria
Panisea
Acrochaene
Coelia
Eria
Phreatia
Chysis
Anthogonium
Earina
Trichosma
Coelogyne
Otochilus
Pholidota
Lanium
Diothonea
Hormidium
Hexisia
Pleuranthium
Diacrium
Ponera
Pinelia
Hartwegia
Cattleya
Laeliopsis
Tetramicra
Laelia
Schomburgkia
Sophronitis
Galeandra
Ansellia
Cremastra
Bromheadia
Govenia
Grobya
Cheiradenia
Aganisia
Acacallis
Eriopsis
Warrea
Batemannia
Bifrenaria
Xylobium
Lacaena
Lycaste
Chondrorhyncha
Acincta
Mormodes
Cycnoches
Stenia
Clowesia
Scuticaria
Camaridium
Dichaea
Trichopilia
Aspasia
Cochlioda
Dignathe
Miltonia
Solenidium
Erycina
Abola
Trizeuxis
Ada
Sutrina
Trigonidium
Quekettia
Zygostates
Phymatidium
Centropetalum
Doritis
Aëranthes
Uncifera
Acampe
Sarcanthus
Diplocentrum
Cryptopus
Oeonia
Mystacidium
Cirrhaea
Notylia
Sertifera
Tropidia
Pterichis
Prescottia
Pseudocentrum
Gomphicis
Baskervilla
Pelexia
Herpysma
Zeuxine
Haemaria
Hylophila
Drakaea
Burnettia
Chloraea
Stenoglottis
Bicornella
Hemipilia
Glossula
Pachites
Herschelia
Monadenia
Schizodium
Forficaria
Brachycorythis
When it is remembered that Bentham, who elaborated the orchids for the Genera Plantarum, held broader views of generic limits than the majority of botanists, the fact that 114 or more than a third of the genera retained are Lindleyan is a striking testimony to the accuracy and range of Lindley's work in the group. Pfitzer in the work already cited retains 127 of Lindley's genera. In no other great family probably has one man left so large a mark as Lindley has left in the Orchidaceae. In this connection it may be added that 40 of Robert Brown's Orchid Genera and 50 of Blume's are retained by Bentham and Hooker.
The number of species of orchids known in his time Lindley doubtingly estimated at 3000. Collectors since that time have increased that number probably to 6000. The fact that about 1100 species of orchids are known from British India, outnumbering those of any other family by about 300, will doubtless surprise the majority of botanists.
Before closing this notice of a remarkable and versatile man some reference must be made to his pioneer work in the field of palaeobotany—a subject that has markedly advanced in recent times at the hands of Lindley's fellow-countrymen. In co-operation with Hutton there were published (1831-1837) the three volumes of Lindley and Hutton's Fossil Flora of Great Britain, an authoritative work, profusely illustrated with figures of the known fossils, and by no means entirely superseded at the present day. The introductory chapters to the volumes bear the mark of Lindley's handiwork, and that to volume iii. contains the results of an extensive series of experiments carried out by Lindley to determine the capacity of various plants to resist the agencies of disintegration. These results have become classic and are often referred to by subsequent writers on palaeo-botany.
During the progress of the Fossil Flora Lindley amassed a considerable collection of specimens, some of which have recently come to light in the cellars of University College. He was obliged however to abandon this branch of study as it threatened to distract his attention from other departments of botany.