Orchidaceae of Mexico

The Orchids of Mexico have attracted collectors from abroad for more than a hundred years past, and in more recent years plant lovers residing within the country. Commercial collectors no loner range the hills and ravines in order to find those plants which will bring a small fortune somewhere overseas. Fashions in orchids, like those in those in hats, change and the hybridist’s art has brought to the world an unlimited variety of showy kinds which are now fashionable. It is just as well, for some orchids were in danger of extinction, and some perhaps still are because of the local ‘Flower peddlers": who pull the plants from the trees to secure a spike of flowers which will brings a few centavos in the market, or perhaps a bit more from some tourist. It is quite probable that the Mexican Orchidaceae are as well known and as thoroughly colleted as any other large family of plants growing in that country. This situation has existed for many years.