THE ORCHID REVIEW. 235 
LA‘LIO-CATTLEYA x ELEGANS AND 
L. x SCHILLERIANA. 
THESE two handsome Orchids are now flowering in various collections, and 
the receipt of severalginquiries respecting them, in four instances accom- 
panied by flowers, suggests the desirability of placing on record the following 
notes, as some of their varieties have been, and still are, considerably con- 
fused. Both are natives of the Santa Catherina district of South Brazil, 
and from a variety of considerations it is certain that both. are of hybrid 
origin. 
In the district in question, three well-known species occur, and in certain 
localities, at least, they grow intermixed, or in close proximity to each other. 
These are Lelia purpurata, Cattleya Leopoldi, and C. intermedia. The 
former of these has stout pseudobulbs, each with a single erect longish leaf, 
and the flower has an entire lip, and eight pollinia; the two latter have 
slender stem-like pseudobulbs, each with a pair of rather short spreading 
leaves, and the flowers have a three-lobed lip, and four pollinia. The two 
latter, as is well known, are markedly different from each other in the colour 
of their flowers and in various details of structure. 
It is very interesting to observe the way in which these characters are 
combined in the hybrid offspring. Some of the pseudobulbs bear a single 
leaf, as in the Lzelia parent, and others a pair, as in the Cattleya; while as 
regards their shape, they are either intermediate or incline towards one or 
the other parent. The same remark applies to the flowers, both as regards 
shape and colour, while the pollinia are very unequal, the lower series being 
much smaller that the upper, and in some cases quite rudimentary, as in all 
the hybrids artificially raised between these two genera. 
The series of natural hybrids now in gardens have sometimes been referred 
to several different types, as will be seen by the references cited below, and 
at others brought together as varieties of one. It is, however,.certain that 
we have two distinct hybrids to deal with, both of which are as variable as 
hybrids generally are. One is the hybrid between Lelia: purpurata and 
Cattleya Leopoldi, or Lelio-cattleya x elegans. proper, the other that 
between Lelia purpurata and Cattleya intermedia, or Leelio-cattleya x 
Schilleriana, sometimes incorrectly referred as a variety of the former. It 
is not desirable, however, that pte of different — should be 
confused together. 
We may first note Lzlio-cattleya x ee otherwise L. x purpurato- 
Leopoldi. 
. This was originally discovered by Ft rancois.De Vos,.a ‘collector for the 
late M. Ambrose Verschaffelt, of Ghent,.on the island of Santa Catherina, 
as long ago as 1847, and flowered for the first time in Europe in the following 
year, when it was described as Cattleya elegans. Its hybrid origin was not 
