THE GENUS LJELIA. 
265 
THE GENUS LiELIA. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION OF LiELIA MAJALIS. 
We occasionally hear the expression of regret that the glorious 
order of vegetal forms among which our present subject ranks, 
is not more accommodating in its habits, so as to be enjoyable by 
a greater number of admirers ; and the sigh which accompanies 
the declaration of inability to cope with their supposed exclusive¬ 
ness bears ample testimony to the sincerity of that regret. True 
it is, that a great proportion, indeed the majority of orchids, 
belong, as it were, to the aristocracy of the vegetable kingdom, 
and require a peculiar treatment, insisting on an elevated and 
aqueous atmosphere, and are marked by other distinctive cha¬ 
racteristics, which separate them from the mass of ornamental 
plants, as much in management as in appearance. But there is 
a portion, and that, fortunately, not inconsiderable either in 
respect to numbers or beauty, which comes much nigher the de¬ 
nomination of “ everybody’s plants these, from climatal or 
other causes, possess a freedom in growth and flowering, a 
natural inclination to thrive, which enables them to live and 
flourish under circumstances that would be fatal to their fellows, 
and places within the reach of the ordinary cultivator some of 
the loveliest of Nature’s gems ; to this class we propose to devote 
the present paper, with the hope of lessening some of the dif¬ 
ficulties which obstruct the would-be cultivator in the attain¬ 
ment of his wishes. 
At the head of the group stands the beautiful genus Laelia, not 
an extensive one certainly, as at present known, but containing 
a sufficient number of perfectly distinct species to be highly in¬ 
teresting. In a state of nature, it is scattered among the thickets 
of Guatemala, Mexico, Brazil, and other warm parts of North 
America, generally occurring in the more elevated districts of 
those countries; the precipitous sides of hills, and margins of 
mountain gullies, sufficiently fertile to support an arborescent 
vegetation, are the spots where these plants are most frequently 
met with ; adhering to the projecting arms of a living tree, or the 
prostrate trunk of a dead one, they flourish and sink into a dor- 
iii. 23 
