LAELIA AUTUMNALIS ALBA. 
[Pate 451.] 
Native of Mexico. 
Epiphytal. Pseudo-bulbs clustered, ovate, tapering upwards, much ribbed, some 
three to six inches long, two-leaved. Leaves linear-oblong or lanceolate from the 
top of the pseudo-bulb, spreading, thick and leathery in texture, and about six 
inches in length. Scape terminal, bearing numerous flowers in a loose raceme, pleasantly 
perfumed, large and showy in the typical plant, but in the variety now before us 
they are wholly pure white, saving a tinge of yellow on the lip. Sepals and 
petals spreading, the former Ee aetnd sits the latter ovate-acuminate ; hp 
three-lobed, the side lobes erect, but not enclosing the column, oblong with 
rounded tips, the middle lobe oblong, the tip recurved, the whole of the flower 
pure snowy white, saving a faint tinge of yellow on the disc of the lip. 
LALIA AUTUMNALIS ALBA, supra. 
A beautiful pure white-flowered form of the old favourite Lelia autumnalis, 
which was first brought to this country from Mexico nearly sixty years ago, where 
it is known by the name of “Flos de todos los Santos,” or All Saints’ Flower. 
This species has produced several remarkable coloured varieties, amongst which the 
finest form may be easily recognised in the variety atro-rubens, introduced some 
twelve years ago by the Messrs. Backhouse & Son, of York, and figured at plate 49 
of this work. . The variety known as venusta, having large flowers of a rosy 
mauve, is another distinct form, but in the present case we have a variety quite 
destitute of colour, saving the yellow stain on the disc of the lip; and this 
tinge of yellow in a white flower, in our estimation, serves to give it vivacity 
and brightness, and without which the flower appears dead and lifeless. We 
have seen this before, flowering in the collection of G. C. Raphael, Esq., under 
the care of his gardener, Mr. Swan, but it was on the wane when we saw it, 
-and considerably too late for figuring. In the autumn of last year (1891), how- 
ever, a plant flowered in our own collection in the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, 
Upper Holloway, out of an importation we received direct, which proved equally as 
good as the plant we had previously seen blooming in Mr. Raphael's garden at 
Englefield Green. ‘This variety still continues somewhat rare in collections, and 
it is very singular that so many species of Orchids should produce “albino” forms 
just at the time when they are most prized by the growers of these plants. 
