﻿THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



[October, 1904. 



The species is rare in cultivation, though it seems to be common in 

 a wild state. It was discovered by M. J. Linden, in 1842, and described 

 four years later as S. violacea, Linden {Lindl. Orch. Lind., p. 26), its. 

 habitat being given as follows : — " Abundant in the high regions of the 

 province of Merida, at the elevation of 6,000 to 8,000 feet. Flowers pale 

 violet or white with a yellow crest." Living plants were sent home, for in 

 the Folia Orchidacea we are told that the white variety flowered with Mr. 

 Rucker in July, 1847, and a coloured drawing of this flower is preserved 

 in Lindley's Herbarium, where it is recorded that Mr. Rucker received the 

 plant from Linden in 1844. It is uncertain when the violet one first 

 appeared in cultivation, but there is a specimen preserved at Kew which is 

 labelled " Sobralia violacea, Hort. Kew., April, 1864." It also flowered with 

 Messrs. Linden, of Brussels, in October, 1891, and was figured in Lindenia 

 (vii., t. 320), this being the only published figure of the species. Another 

 white form flowered in the establishment of Mr. W. Bull, Chelsea, in. 

 May, 1886, which was drawn by Mr. Day {Coll. Draw., xlix., t. 93), 

 and was noted as a very lovely Sobralia, three feet high. A flower was 

 sent to Reichenbach, who replied that he considered it to be a white- 

 variety of S. violacea. It differs from the one sent by Messrs. Low in 

 having the margin of the lip lilac-purple instead of pure white, but agrees 

 in shape and other details. A plant which has long been in cultivation 

 under the name of S. virginalis has been taken for a white form of this 

 species, but the one figured by Cogniaux (Ic. Orch., Sobral., t. 3), has a 

 much larger flower, though otherwise very similar. The variety lilacina, 

 however {I.e., t. 3a), is much smaller, in fact about intermediate between 

 it and the one figured by Mr. Day, and it approaches the latter in colour, 

 but is paler lilac. 



The species seems to be widely diffused and variable, both in size and 

 colour, being also collected at Merida, at 5,000 feet elevation, by Wagener, 

 also by Moritz (the latter mentioning both white and violet varieties); 

 at Bucamaranga, at 7,000 feet, by Weir ; at Antioquia, by Jervise ; at 

 Rio Hacha and Maracaybo, by Purdie ; near Taropoto, in Peru, by 

 Spruce ; also in Peru, by Matthews ; and, lastly, in Bolivia, at Banos, 

 at 6,000-7,000 feet, by Pearce ; and at Yungas, by Bang. Purdie remarks : 

 — " This beautiful and fragrant plant has numerous varieties of colour 

 in different plants, varying from pure white to crimson and even purple." 

 The species of Sobralia are rather difficult to determine in a dried state, 

 and whether all the above represent a single species is not quite certain, 

 but at all events no characters have been found for separating them. 

 A complete collection of the species would be very interesting, but would 

 require a good deal of room on account of their size. 



R. A. Rolfe. 



