Jury, 1917.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 155 
ees | LAELIA LOBATA AND VAR. ALBA. ber 
EARLY seventy years ago Lindley described, under the name of 
Cattleya lobata, a Brazilian Orchid which flowered with Messrs. 
Loddiges, of Hackney, in May, 1847 (Gard. Chron., 1848, p. 403). He 
remarked: ‘‘The flowers are of one uniform purple, tinged with violet, 
with some rich crimson veins on the lip. It is nearly allied to C. labiata, 
of which, perhaps, it is a variety. The excessive lobiny of the petals and 
lip, and the comparative small size of the latter, seem, however, to point to 
a specific difference. At all events it is as well marked a form of the genus 
as C. Mossi, and, for the purpose of cultivators, may be looked upon as a 
distinct species.” Six years later, Reichenbach described the same thing 
as Lelia grandis var. purpurea (Bonplandia, 1854, p. 89), from a 
Brazilian plant which flowered with Messrs. Booth, of Hamburg, and a 
year later it became L. Boothiana (Rchb. f. in Allg. Gartenz., xxiii. p. 322). 
It was subsequently figured (Rchb. f. Xen. Orch., i. p. 218, t. gt). The 
species ultimately became Lelia lobata (Veitch Man. Orch., ii. p. 74, with 
fig.), under the rule for retaining the earliest specific name. After a long 
interval we are able to record the appearance of an albino of the species. 
At the R.H.S. meeting held on June 5th last, a plant was exhibited by 
Messrs. Charlesworth & Co., Haywards Heath, which they obtained from 
the Continent under the name of L. purpurata Latona, this being all that 
is known of its origin. The absence of the purple lines which are 
invariably present in white forms of L. purpurata (the whole flower being 
uniformly white), and the smaller size, immediately caught our eye, 
and a subsequent comparison of the five-flowered inflorescence and a 
pseudobulb and leaf, kindly presented by Messrs. Charlesworth, confirm the 
opinion formed that it is the albino of L. lobata. Apart from colour it 
proves an almost exact match of Lelia Rivieri (Carr. in. Rev. Hort., 1874, 
Pp. 331, with plate), based on a plant which flowered with M. Rougier- : 
Chauviere, of Paris, and which is said to have been received from New 
Grenada. This, however, must have been a mistake, for the plant is 
synonymous with the Brazilian L. lobata. We have seen no dried native 
Specimen of the species, and Cogniaux, in the Flora Brasiliensis, is only 
able to mention the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, both from 
garden sources. Messrs. Veitch only know of a single station, on the coast 
of Rio de Janeiro, where it grows on a bare rock that is washed by the 
ocean below, and where it is fully exposed to the sun from morning to 
night. L. purpurata Latona also flowered with Messrs. Charlesworth a 
year ago (O.R., xxiv. p. 179), and we suspect that the L. purpurata alba 
Ashworthiz (l.c., p. 182), may be identical. R.A.R. 
