L^LIA HAEPOPHYLLA 



[Plate 11 7.] 



Native of Brazil. 



Epiphytal. Stems slender, terete, six inches to a foot liioh, iiivpstcd with 

 sheathing bracts, monopliyllous. Leaves ligulate, acuminate, nhout au inch in biciultlj, 

 dark green. Peduncle issuing from a longish terete sheath, and ha-^nng a racemn 

 ahout six inches long, Floivers four to seven in a raceme, rather smnll m .size, bnt 

 highly coloured, and very attractive ; sepals lanceolate, acute, one and tliroo-qnnrfcr 

 inch in length, and of a bright orange-vcimilion ; petals similar in ««i70, form, nnd 

 colour; lip thrcc-lobed, the side lobes erect plane, of the same orange colon i- a.s 

 the sepals, with the acute upper front angle whitish nnd soTnowlmt drawii out, the 

 mardns just meeting over the column, the middle lolm civainy uliito, the dink 

 mnrkcd with four orange-coloured lines, about twice as long .as the side lobes, linear 

 acuminate, recurved, with a crispy margin ; keels nenrly obsolet(\ 



L^LiA HARPOPHYLLA, Rdchcnbach fil., in Gardeners^ Chronicle, 1873, 542 ; 

 Floral Magazme, n.s., t. 372 ; Garden, xxiii., 116, t. 400. 



This, observes Professor Rcichenbach, is one of those curious plants whi<h 

 " arc not decided species, and yet they must be named and regiatered. It would 

 be LcBlia cinnaharina, if it had not a stem as thin as that of a showy Plmro- 

 thallis, a sinde acuminate leaf, and much narrower and strn ighter parts of the 



flower." ♦ * * *« Perhaps it is a mule between a Brassavola and LceUa clnna- 

 harinaf" Whatever its origin and direct relationship, there is no doubt that It is 

 one of the most distinct and beautiful of Orchids, as it affords a colour tliat h 

 not only rare, but exceedingly effective. The flowers may be considered small as 

 compared with the majority of the species of Lrelia, which, indeed, arc gcncmlly 

 large-flowered, and rank among the most gorgeous and showy of Orchirlf^, but even 

 in this species they measure fully three inches across. It is a singular fact, that 

 most of the orchidaceous species with orange-vermilion flowers have blossoms smnlh-r 

 than those of other colours. We have often noticed this fact amonirst the Orchids 

 that we have met with, and, indeed, it may be observed through nearly all th<* 

 genera, that there are no large-sized flowers of this orange or vermilion colour. 

 We are, however, hopeful that our energetic collectors may succeed in importmg 

 some having this character. It is true the Sophronitcs grandifora be 

 coloured vermilion-scailet flowers which may be considered large in proportion to 

 the size of the plant, and a most charming Orchid it is, but we should, never- 

 theless, welcome some examples, at least, of these brilliant an<I startling colours 

 among those larger-growing subjects which produce larger flov 



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