346 LHE ORCHID REVIEW. 
LAELIA RUPESTRIS. 
A CORRESPONDENT sends a catalogue record of a hybrid Leelio-cattleya, 
said to have been derived from Cattleya Triane x Lelia rupestris, and 
asks what the latter species is, as the name does not appear in either 
Veitch’s or Williams’ Orchid Manuals. 
Lelia rupestris was described by Lindley in 1842 (Bot. Reg., xxviii., sub. 
t. 62), from dried specimens collected by Gardner in elevated rocky places 
in the Diamond district, Brazil. Gardner noted the flowers as “ violaceous.” 
In his Travels in the Interior of Brazil (ed. 2, p- 339), Gardener thus describes. 
his discovery of it. Speaking of Lavrinha, situated on the southern 
extremity of the Sierra, in a hollow surrounded by rocky hills, he remarks :— 
“ Here I again made numerous collections, among which were two fine 
Orchidaceous plants, both species of the beautiful genus Lelia, one of them 
bearing violet-coloured, and the other bright yellow flowers.” These were 
respectively L. rupestris and L. flava. It seems probable that living plants. 
were sent home, for a coloured drawing of the lip in Lindley’s Herbarium, 
labelled, “ Mr. J. T. Mackay, Trin. Coll., May 26th, 1845,” affords evidence 
that the species was then in cultivation at Dublin. A living flower was also 
sent to Kew for determination in November, 1896, by Col. E. S. Berkeley 
labelled, “Lelia from South America.” The species closely resembles. 
L. flava in habit, but has the leaves and flower-scapes rather shorter than 
in that species. The expanded flowers measure 14 to 1} inches in diameter, 
and the colour is bright purple with the throat of the lip much paler in 
colour. 
R. A. ROLFE. 
OBITUARY, 
WE regret to hear of the death of Mr. Thomas Rochford, of the Turnford 
Hall Nurseries, Cheshunt, Herts, which occurred at his residence on Octo- 
ber 12th last. The deceased, who was in his 53rd _ year, had been suffering 
for some time from Bright’s disease. Mr. Rochford had established a highly 
successful nursery business at Cheshunt, to which place he had moved in 
1883, and some four or five years ago he took up the culture of Orchids, in 
which he was as successful as in his other undertaking. The magnificent 
group of Odontoglossums exhibited by him at the Drill Hall on April 23rd 
last, to which a Gold Medal was awarded, will be fresh in the minds of 
those of our readers who were present on that occasion. Mr. Rochford’s 
death leaves a vacancy on the Royal Horticultural Society’s Orchid Com- 
mittee, of which body he had for some time been a member. The funeral 
took place on October 17th, at Cheshunt Cemetery. 
