os 
ae 
LAELIA ANCEPS DAWSONT. 
[PLate 44.] 
* 
Native of Juquila in Mexico. 
Kpiphytal. Psewdobulbs oblong-ovate, four to five inches long, compressed and 
two-edged, with prominent angles on the flattened sides so as to render them 
tetraquetrous, clothed with large membranaceous scales. Leaves one or two from each 
pseudobulb, oblong-lanceolate acute, coriaceous, smooth and glossy on the surface, of 
a rich deep green colour, Scape rising from between the leaves at the apex of the 
pseudobulb, two to three feet long, ancipitous, clothed with carimate bracts, and 
bearmg about three large and charmingly beautiful blossoms. Flowers large, 
measuring about four and a-half inches across ; sepals lanceolate, acuminate, white ; 
petals ovate, acuminate, white ; lip prominent, three-lobed: the lateral lobes convolute 
over the column, white at the margin, stained with rosy purple exteriorly, and marked 
with numerous bright purple branched lines within the closed portion, ‘where there 
is also a yellow ridge lined with purple which passes out into the base of the front 
lobe in the form of three yellow erests; the front lobe oblong acute, recurved at 
the tip, the base white, the rest of the lobe (about three-fourths of. its surface) of a 
deep rich magenta-purple, evenly but narrowly bordered with white. Column enclosed. 
L&LIA ANCEPS DAwsont, Anderson, in Gardeners’ Chroncle, 1868, 27; 
Reichenbach fil., in Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1873, 254; Warner, Select Orchidaceous 
lants, 2 ser., t. 34; Jehnings, Orchids, t. 6; Floral Magazine, t. 530; Williams, 
Orchid Grower's Manual, 5 ed., 202. ‘ . 
L&iia anceps Dawsontana, Rand, Orchids, 296. 
This is one of the most chaste and beautiful Orchids of its class. The type, 
Lelia anceps, has flowers of a rosy lilac and deep purple colour, while the one before 
us is pure white with the exception of the lip, which is of a rich sparkling purple, 
and makes a splendid contrast. : 
This variety was imported many years ago by the Messrs. Low & Co., of Clapton, 
There have been several other white forms flowered lately, but none to equal the 
one represented in our plate, the drawing of which was taken from a very fine 
specimen bearing four spikes, growing in the rich collection of R. B. Dodgson, Baq. 
of Blackburn; it was the finest plant we have seen in bloom, and the production of 
so grand a specimen reflects great credit on Mr. Osman, the Gardener, for his skill 
in cultivation. . : 
Lelia anceps Dawsoni is, like the type form, of compact-growing habit. The 
pseudobulbs are from four to six inches in height, and the foliage of a light green 
colour. The flower spike is developed at the tip of the pseudobulb after it has 
completed its growth, and attains to about two feet in length, generally bearing two 
ms 
