Tab. 8054. 



SOPHROLAELIA Psyche. 



Garden hybrid. 



Orchidaceak. Tribe EpiDKXMiKAE. 

 Sophrolaelia, Rolfe in Orch. llcv. 1894, p. 888. 



Sophrolaelia Psyche, Bolfe in Orch. Rev. 1902, p. 55 ; Corjn. et Gooss. Dirt. 

 Ic. Orch., Sophrolaelia, t. 1; liolfe d Hurst, Orch. Stud-Book, p. 'i.'Jti ; 

 hybrida inter Laeliam cinnabar i nam, Lindl. et Sophronitin grandifloram, 

 Lindl., artefacta. 



Hcrba epiphytica; pseudobulbi aggregati, fusiformi-oblongi, 3-6 cm. longi, 

 vaginis membranaceis obtecti, monophylli. Folia oblonga, subobtusa, 

 suberecta vel recurva, coriacea, 7-12 cm. longa, 2-2 "5 cm. lata. Scapi 

 terminales, suberecti, 2-3-fIori ; bracteae subulato-oblongae, acutae, 4-6 

 mm. longae; pedicelli 3 '5-4 cm. longi. Flores speciosi, aurantiaci. 

 Scpala et petala subrecurva, elliptico-oblonga, subacuta, 2-2-5 cm. longa. 

 Labellum trilobum, 2-2 "5 cm. longum; lobi laterales oblongi, circa 

 columnam involuti ; lobus intermedins recurvus, lanceolatus, subacutus, 

 crispo-undulatus. Columna clavata, circiter 1 cm. longa. Pollinia 8, in 

 quoque loculo 4, cerea, compressa, paris inferioris adscendentia, cum eis 

 paris superioris descendentibus in quoque loculo appendicula granulosa 

 lineari connexa. — E. A. Rolfe. 



The Orchidiwhich forms the subject of our plate is a 

 garden plant of hybrid origin which, nevertheless, is of 

 sufficient scientific interest to justify a deviation from 

 our general practice of excluding from the Botanical 

 Magazine illustrations of artificially raised forms. This 

 interest does not reside in the fact that the Sophrolaelia 

 here figured is the result of a combination between 

 species that are referred to two genera usually accepted 

 as distinct. As a matter of fact it is but one of fourteen 

 hybrids of garden origin which are claimed to have been 

 made between species of Laelia and species of Sophronitis. 

 Nor is the phenomenon restricted to these two genera ; 

 over thirty are recorded as having been produced by 

 crossing species of Sophronitis with species of Cattleya, 

 and some fifty are enumerated into whose composition 

 all three genera mentioned are said to enter. It is clear 

 that the relationship between these three genera is so 

 close that in their case intercrossing is easy, while the 

 considerations which guide us in the delimitation of 

 genera remain of necessity matters of opinion and con- 



Ai'itiL, 1916. 



