CATTLEYA LABIATA TRIAN ALBA ort. 
CATTLEYA LABIATA, Lindl. Pseudobulbi fusiformis clavatis varie sulcatis monophyllis, spatha plus minus evoluta simplici aut raro duplici, pedunculo 
uni—plurifloro, flore maximo expanso membranaceo, sepalis ligulatis acutis, tepalis oblongis obtusiusculis raro acutis varie crispis, labello maximo oblongo 
varie trilobo, varie crispo, columna recta clavata, androclinii apiculo postico ligulato supra antheram flexo. 
CATTLEYA LABIATA, Lindl, Coll. 33 !; Hook,, vol. iii, 157! etc. 
Planta inter Orchideas forsan maxime polymorpha, pleiochroma, 
VAR. TRIANA&I, Duchartre, Jour. Soc. imp. d’Hort,, 1860, p. 369, tab. 367!: flore aperto, sepalis alte rhombeis, labello subrhombeo, retusiusculo, florens 
vere nostro, 
CATTLEYA TRIANAI, Lind., Rchb. f. Flora, 1860, 112! 
EPIDENDRUM LABIATUM VAR. TRIANAI, Rchb. f,, Xenia Orchidacea, ii., 30 ! 
SUB-VAR. ALBA, Hort.: Jam descripta ac illustrata. Floribus albis, disco labelli flavo, 
SOMETHING less than thirty-five years ago Cattleya Trianz made its first appearance in cultivation, a plant having been 
sent to the late Mr. Rucker, of West Hill, Wandsworth, from the valley of the Magdalena, a large river flowing north- 
wards through Colombia and emptying itself into the Caribbean Sea. Since that time this species has always been held 
in the greatest esteem by lovers of orchids, and it has consequently attained a very high position in popular favour. 
Being distributed over a large area of Colombia—a country whose physical conditions are of the most diversified 
character—it is natural to find almost innumerable varieties of C. Trianz now in existence. Years ago, when Dr. Triana’s 
Cattleya was quite new to horticulture, its varieties were limited in number, and therefore comparatively easy to 
distinguish from one another, but with the large importations which have reached this country during later years, 
numerous other varieties have been added to their predecessors, thus forming, as it were, a long chain of forms, whose 
chief differences—important from a horticultural point of view—lay in the shape and colour of their flowers, some being 
admired for the richness of their colour alone, and others both for colour and gracefulness of form. The variety alba, 
which forms the subject of our illustration, is without doubt one of the most charming of these numberless forms. It has 
a dwarf and compact habit—a fact which will be appreciated by those cultivators with whom space is an object—and 
large, handsome white flowers, whose purity is rendered more conspicuous and beautiful by the contrast which it presents 
to the bright orange-yellow stain which embellishes the throat of the labellum. 
The culture of C. Trianz and its varieties is very easy, and it is doubtless this fact, in conjunction with the large 
so of the rim. In this condition large quantities of water may be freely given during the growing season without fear of 
the soil becoming too saturated. At the same time plenty of air and sufficient sunlight will help the growths to reach 
a state of maturity, and induce them to develop at the proper season a rich crop of well-formed and beautifully coloured 
flowers. 
Our plate is from a plant in the collection of R. I. Measures, Esq., Cambridge Lodge, Flodden Road, Camberwell. 
