(Wal 
PWeN 
PL. CCCLXXIV. 
LAELIA x OWENIAE 1. .inp. 
Mrs. G. D. OWEN’S LAELIA. 
LAELIA. Vide Lindenia, Engl. ed., I, p. 41. 
Laelia X Oweniae. An hybrida inter L. Perrini et L. elegantem ? 
ne of the characters so much admired by amateurs in the genera 
Cattleya and Laelia, so closely allied and so beautiful, is the richness 
of the deep crimson colour, sometimes purple, sometimes velvety, and 
passing through a thousand tints equally superb. Thus it is that the Cattleyas 
Mossiae, Trianae, Eldorado, gigas, Mendeli, labiata and Laelia purpurata, are nearly 
always esteemed, because of the brillant colours of their lip, and that the smaller 
species, such as Cattleya Percivaliana, C. Skinneri, C. superba and Laelia pumila 
are also much sought after, notwithstanding their modest dimensions. Also the 
purple varieties of Laelia yx elegans are considered by connoisseurs as having the 
greatest value among all the forms which this superb and variable Orchid has 
hitherto produced. 
The Lindenia has already recently figured Laelia (or Laelio-Cattleya) X elegans 
Broomeana, without doubt the most celebrated of all the varieties. The plant 
which we figure to day deserves to be compared with it in point of beauty, 
which is not by any means a feeble eulogium. 
The flowers in form are much like those of Laelia Perrinii, but the lateral 
lobes of the lip are a little different, and the petals are much broader than those 
of this species. The vegetative organs, on the contrary, are much more like 
those of Laelia X elegans; the pseudobulbs are more or less cylindrical, a little 
broader at the summit than at the base, about sixteen to twenty inches high, 
and bearing two leaves. The plant therefore, taken as a wh ole, shows an evident 
mixture of the characters of the two species above mentio ned, and we do not 
hesitate to consider it a natural hybrid between Laelia Perrinii and L. X elegans, 
which grow in a wild state in the same region of Brazil, namely in the environs 
of Rio de Janeiro. i 
The flowers are of a truly splendid colour, dark carmine-purple with a 
changing reflection passing into magenta. The tube of the lip is white, with 
‘a brilliant carmine-purple band extending from the base to the throat, and then 
enlarging in front so as to cover the whole of the front lobe and the tips 
28. 
UE 
