CHAPTER XVIII
ODOURS OF ORCHIDS
Many Orchids have fragrant flowers, while in some sections the fragrance is emitted by the whole plant. A large number of Burmese and Indian, highland Orchids, such as Dendrobium moschatum, the section of deciduous Bulbophyllums which includes B. auricomum, B. hirtum, B. comosum, and B. suavissimum, have leaves that on becoming dry after falling give off a strong odour of newly-mown hay, the plants also in all their parts being similarly scented when dry, even the cases containing them being pleasantly scented by the plants.
The odours of Orchid flowers may generally be likened to well-known perfumes. Trichopilia suavis, Miltonia Roezlii, and others are scented like the Rose; Odontoglossum odoratum and some other Odontoglossums, Maxillaria picta and other Maxillarias, like the Hawthorn. Certain Maxillarias of the M. luteo-alba section are scented like Honeysuckle, and odour similar to the Tuberose is given off by many Angræcums. Some have a much stronger odour at night than in the day, a peculiarity which is found in Epidendrum nocturnum, E. ciliare, and many species. Vanilla is a common scent in Orchids, being present in some Vandas. The odour of Violets is furnished by Dendrobium heterocarpum and others of its class, and the Primrose, Wallflower, and other common garden plants have their exact imitators in the matter of scent in some tropical Orchids—indeed, it is an interesting subject to consider how plants resemble each other in this particular. Then there are large numbers of Orchids with such delicate odours that some are unable to appreciate them, but they are specially grateful to those who detect them. Again, some Orchids have different odours at different times in the day. It is not safe, therefore, to declare a plant scentless unless it has been tested repeatedly at different times.
Variation in odour has been noticed. We remember flowering the first Odontoglossum hebraicum, and on testing it its odour was of cinnamon. It passed to Sir Trevor Lawrence's collection, and we asked the late Mr. Spyers to test the odour, and he replied that it was of Hawthorn, like others of its class. He tested it several times with the same result, but for some time before it passed off he reported to us that it smelt exactly like cinnamon. Then there are odours in Orchids about which opinions are divided as to whether they are pleasant or not. Oncidium ornithorhynchum is an example; some like the odour of it very much, while it is disagreeable to others. The same applies to Anguloas, some Lycastes and Stanhopeas with strongly aromatic scent, which are pleasant at a distance, but not so when too closely approached. But the majority are distinctly pleasant, Cattleya Dowiana and its hybrids, C. Eldorado and others, being delicately fragrant.
A very few are malodorous, Bulbophyllum Beccari not being tolerable under any circumstances, the flowers smelling like some of the Stapelias.