Tab. 5667. 



LiELIA MAJALIS. 



May-flowering Laelia. 



Nat. Ord. OECiiiDEiE. — Gvsatsdeia Monandeia. 

 Gen. Char. {Vide supra, Tab. 158.) 



L.HLIA majalis ; pseudobulbis ovatis vel subrotundis, foliis solitariis coria- 

 ceis oblongis, spicis 1- vel rarissime 2-floris subaequalibus, bracteis raem- 

 branaceis ovatis, sepalis lanceolatis petalis oblongo-lanoeolatis duplo 

 latioribua, labelli lobo medio rofcimdato emargiiiato piano, lateralibus 

 parvis obtusis. Lindl. 



L^lia majalis. Batemm, Orchid. Hex. et Guat. t. 23. Sot. Beg. v. 30. t. 

 30. Paxton, Mag. v. 12. p. 1. 



Bletta speciosa. Hb. Bonpl. et Kunth, Nov. Gen. et Spec. v. 1. p. 342. 



Hchb. in Walpers' Ann. v. 6. 

 Bleth grandiflora. La Llave. 



This magnificent Mexican Orchid has long been known to 

 botanists. Hernandez was the first to notice it, and he gives 

 it a place by the side of the glorious Tigridia pavonia and a 

 Stanhopea (probably S. Martiana) in the singular frontis- 

 piece that he prefixed to his work on the natural history of 

 New Spain, published about two hundred years ago. Early 

 in the present century it caught the eye of Humboldt him- 

 self, by whom, or rather by his collaborateur Kunth, it was 

 described under the name of Bletia speciosa. Lexaiza, the 

 companion of La Llave, subsequently found it growing over 

 the whole province of Mechoacan, but failing to identify it 

 with Humboldt's plant, published it under the designation 

 of B. grandiflora. Later still, when it flowered in Mr. 

 Llewelyn's collection at Penllargare, Dr. Lindley, supposing 

 it to be a new La?lia, gave it the name of L. majalis, which 

 is merely a Latin rendering of the vernacular name, " Flor 

 de Mayo," by which the species is known over nearly the 

 whole of Mexico, and which of course indicates the usual 

 period of its blossoming ; and although the latter name has. 

 as regards priority, no right to stand, still, as it has been ac- 

 cepted over all Europe, it would scarcely be desirable, even if 

 it were possible to disturb it. 

 octobee 1st, 1867. 



