LAELIA PURPURATA 



The next house is given up to L. purpurata with some 

 L, grandis tenebrosa intermixed. Not much can be said of 

 the latter species. Its extraordinary colour is best described 

 as madder - brown, but here we have a variety of which 

 the ends of the sepal and petal are yellowish. The broad 

 lip, dull purple, has a madder -brown cloud at its throat, 

 whence lines of the same hue proceed to the edges all round. 

 The value of L. tenebrosa for hybridising needs no demon- 

 stration — it introduces a colour unique, of which not a 

 trace can be found elsewhere. But as for the flower itself, 

 I protest that it is downright ugly. This is a propos of 

 nothing at all. Liberavi animam meam. 



It is always diflicult to realise that an orchid of the grand 

 class is a weed. All our conventional notions of a flower 

 revolt against the proposition. I have remarked that it seems 

 specially absurd to an ingenuous friend, if one recall the 

 fact while he contemplates Laelia purpurata. That majestic 

 thing, so perfect in colour and shape, so delicately finished — 

 a weed ! So it is, nevertheless, as lightly regarded by 

 Nature or by man in its native home as groundsel is by 

 us. The Indians of Central America love their forest 

 flowers passionately. So do those in the north of the 

 Southern Continent. But I never heard that the Indians 

 of Brazil showed a sign of such intelligence. The most 



