SOBRALIA XANTHOLEUCA. 
[PLaTE 250.] 
_ Native of Central America. 
Terrestrial. Stems reed-like, as thick as a goose quill, three feet high, leafy, 
terminated by the infloresence. Leaves persistent, broadly lanceolate acuminate, 
strongly plicate, of a deep green colour, the base clasping and sheathing the stem, 
the sheathing portion dotted with brown. Flowers large and handsome, Setiesd, pro- 
duced in a short terminal raceme, the sheathing imbricated bracts of which are spotted 
with brown, each blossom nearly six inches in diameter; sepals oblong-ovate, bluntish, 
spreading, very pale sulphur-yellow, about two and a half inches long and an inch 
and a half broad; petals ovate obtuse, larger and broader than the sepals, spread- 
ing, somewhat wavy, of the same pale sulphur colour; lip with a tubulose or 
enfolded base an inch and a half long, then spreading into a broad roundish 
crumpled limb two and a half inches across, of a brighter and deeper yellow than 
the rest of the flower, and having an orange-yellow blotch in the throat, which 
is marked with several parallel orange-red stripes. Colwmn included, about as long 
as the tubulose portion. 
SOBRALIA XANTHOLEUCA, Hort.; Williams, Ovrchid-Grower’s Manual, 6 ed., 576; 
Garden, xxii., 508, t. 366. 
We are pleased to be able to figure such a magnificent Sobralia as that represented 
in our plate. It is certainly a most beautiful and thoroughly distinct plant. The 
flowers differ in most respects from those of other Orchids, and in the present case are 
of a fine yellow colour, contrasting well with the rich purple-crimson of S. macrantha 
and S. Ruckeri. The white form of S. Liliastrum gives us, with the foregoing, three 
most distinct and showy colours. There are, besides, others of a rosy hue, and 
these make charming additions to the series. The large showy flowers, upon 
an erect stem, have a most distinct appearance; each flower, indeed, lasts but a 
few days, but they continue producing fresh flowers from the stem for several 
weeks. Our drawing was taken from a well-grown plant in the collection of the Rev. 
_ W. N. Ripley, Earlham Hall, Norwich. It is a very rare species, there being but 
few plants in cultivation, and these in the collections of Baron Schréder and of 
the Comte de Germiny. The late R. Hanbury, of The Poles, Ware, also possessed 
this rare plant, and was the first to flower it. There may be others in existence, 
but we have not seen or heard of them. 
Sobralia xantholeuca is an evergreen species with reed-like stems, growing about 
three feet in height, and producing its handsome flowers from the top of the 
second year's growth, out of a terminal sheath, which is spotted with brown; they 
