CATTLEYA LABIATA zine, VAR. MENDELII Reas. 7 
SUB-VAR. MEASURESIANA Zor 
CATTLEYA LABIATA, Lindl. Pseudobulbis fusiformibus clavatis varie sulcatis monophyllis, spatha spathisve varie evolutis, pedunculo uni-trifloro, flore 
maximo expanso membranaceo, sepalis ligulatis acutis, petalis obovato-oblongis obtusiusculis varie crispis, labello maximo oblongo varie trilobo, varie crispo, 
columna clavata, androclinii apiculo mediano postico ligulato retuso supra antheram flexo. 
CATTLEYA LABIATA, Lindl. Coll. Bot., t. 33 ; id. Bot. Reg., t. 1859; Hook, Exot. Fl, IIL, t. 157; Bot. Mag,, t. 3998; Hook. Cent. Orch, Pl, t. 28 ; 
Warn. & Will. Orchid Album, II. t. 88 ; etc. 
VAR. MENDELU, Rchb. f., pseudobulbis abbreviatis latissimis, foliis latis oblongis abbreviatis, sepalis bene latis, petalis latissimis, labello transverso 
lato lobulato crispulo denticulato, striolis biseriatis per discum medianum supremum ac medium, area antica profunde purpurea, striolis maculisque obscurius 
purpureis in hac area circumspersis, zona flaveola aurantiacave utrinque, columna valida. 
Var. MENDELU, Rchb. f. in Reichenbachia, ser. 1, vol. 1, p. 35, t. 15 ; Lindenia, IT, Pe t7 ite 55. 
C. MENDEL, Hort, Fl. Mag, n.s., 1872, t. 32 ; The Garden, XX., p. 352, t. 304. 
SuBVAR. MEASURESIANA, Hort. Gard. Chron., 1887, pt. 2, p. 14. 
The first account of this beautiful Cattleya which appeared was in the Floral Magazine for 1872, where it is stated to have been imported by Messrs. 
Backhouse & Son, of York, whose collector obtained it about 200 or 300 miles up the Magdalena River some time previously. It passed into the collection of 
Sam Mendel, Esq., of Manley Hall, Manchester, after whom it was named. This was supposed to have been its first time of flowering in this country, but it 
has since been stated that it flowered with Mr. John Day, at Tottenham, in 1871, from specimens imported by Messrs. Hugh Low & Co., of Clapton. Its 
native home is on the slopes of the eastern Cordillera of New Granada, chiefly in the district lying between Pamplona and Bucaramanga, where it is often 
found growing on exposed precipices and bare rocks, at about 3,000 feet elevation above sea-level. It has been imported in immense quantities, but is now 
said to have become rather scarce in a wild state. It is exceedingly variable in the colour of the lip, which ranges from nearly pure white, with a little yellow 
on the disc, as in the variety Bluntii, up to those forms which have the front lobe of an intense purple-crimson, as in the superb form here figured, which is 
from the collection of R. H. Measures, Esq., of The Woodlands, Streatham. About a dozen others have received distinctive names. R. A. Rolfe. 
Hi f 
Icones analyticee. Columna antice et a latere visa. 
SINCE the late John Day first flowered this fine labiate Cattleya no variety has appeared superior to the var. Measuresiana. 
We do not include in our comparison the albino, or Bluntii variety, for the subject of our plate, as our readers may judge 
for themselves by Mr. Moon’s superb plate, is a variety with a coloured labellum, the richness in hue of which is 
indescribable. Owing to the exceeding great beauty of this variety, the Reichenbachia is adorned by one of the finest 
paintings of an orchid that ever left the pencil of a painter in any age. Cattleya Mendelii becomes every year more and 
more sought for owing to its easy culture, its abundant flowering in the late spring and early summer months, and for 
the lasting beauty and great variety of its blossoms. For exhibition purposes it takes foremost rank, and amateurs are 
always ready to secure varieties that are new and distinct in character. Owing to the many importations of late years 
to Europe and America, this grand Cattleya has become comparatively scarce in Bucaramanga, and fine varieties are 
sought for by the rich native residents, from whom it is most difficult to obtain them, we having recently paid £200 
sterling for a single huge specimen of a fine variety that was seen by our collector in a Hacienda, growing on a tree. 
This species is often found on the large rocks and boulders by the side of water-courses, fully exposed and 
in almost inaccessible places, although its home is the verge of the forest, where it nestles in the branches of the greatest 
trees. C. Mendelii is becoming scarce in Columbia. We remember some fifteen years ago having—in one importation 
collected by Falkenberg—some 200 cases home; such a haul is impossible now. Under cultivation it is one of the 
easiest plants to grow. It was named in compliment to the late Sam Mendel, of Manley Hall, Manchester, who in his 
day bore the pseudonym of the “ Cotton God,” and was a great patron and lover of horticulture, especially of orchids. 
Our plate was taken from a plant in the collection of R. H. Measures, Esq., Streatham, near London, 
