FEBRUARY, I9gIT ] THE ORCHID REVIEW, 47 
I have often heard great complaints concerning the unsuccessful culture 
of white varieties of L. anceps, but which I find unjustified, as there is 
nothing more easy than to grow these plants as well as the type; with the 
exception that the white-flowered forms need a temperature of 1 to 3 F. 
higher in winter, as they come from the Pacific coast, which is warmer than 
that of the Gulf of Mexico. 
L. anceps is widely distributed along the eastern side of the Cordilleras, 
from Jalapa southwards to Orizaba. There are many varieties to be met 
with there, such as L. a. Barkeri, and later on L. a. Dawsoni, found by 
M. Finck in the neighbourhood of Cordova, growing on a tree which was 
covered with it, but which was stripped in 1874 by an Indian collector, who 
sold the plants in Mexico, where they were all lost. In more recent times 
the new and chaste varieties known as Schroederi, with very thick short 
bulbs, Percivaliana, Veitchii, Williamsi, vestita, rosea, Hilliana, &c., have 
‘been discovered. As far as I know nobody looks for Lelia anceps in other 
districts of Mexico. . . . What was mysurprise when, in 1883, one of 
my collectors announced that he had found on the Pacific coast, in the 
midst of a large virgin forest, on cold ground, an enormous rock covered 
with Lzlta anceps with white flowers. These plants were sent off to me, 
the collector giving the following brief description:—1, a variety with 
flowers perfectly white with a little yellow in the centre; 2, white, with 
crimson (solferino) in the centre; 3, a plant with blush flowers and crimson 
in the centre. 
After cultivating them for two years I sent flowers of these three types. 
to Professor Reichenbach, who called them new varieties as follows :— 
1, Lelia anceps munda; 2, L. a. Dawsoni pallida; and 3, L. a. 
Kienastiana. Since then other white varieties have been introduced from 
the Pacific coast, as L. a. var. Stellaand L. a. var. Sanderiana, of equal 
beauty. 
LAELIA CRAWSHAYANA VAR, THORPI, 
A very interesting hybrid Lelia has been raised by H. Thorp, Esq., 
Boothroyden, Rhodes, Middleton, from L. anceps morada crossed with the 
pollen of L. albida, of which the two-flowered inflorescence has been kindly 
sent. Mr. Thorp remarks that the plant is nine years old from sowing the 
seed, and that the pseudobulb is rounded or ovoid, slightly corrugated, 24 
inches long, and two-leaved—not at all like L. anceps in shape—and that 
the leaves are about 8 inches long. The flowers are comparable with those 
of L. Crawshayana in shape and texture, but slightly darker in colour. 
The agreement in the spathulate front lobe of the lip is very marked, and I 
believe it must be regarded as a variety of the same. 
L. Crawshayana was described by Reichenbach as long ago as 1883. 
