PL. CCXC. 
LAELIA GRANDIS lindl. var. TENEBROSA hort. 
THE LARGE LAELIA, DARK VARIETY. 
LAELIA. Vide Lindenia, Engl. ed. I, p. 41. 
Laelia grandis. Pseudobulbis clavatis compressis monophyllis, foliis lineari-oblongis obtusis coriaceis, spathis 
ancipitibus elongatis, pedunculis bene exsertis 3-5 floris, floribus magnis, sepalis oblongo-lanceolatis acutis nndulatis 
subcontortis flavis, petalis multo latioribus acutis crispo-undulatis flavis, labello trilobo, lobis lateralibus circa columnam 
convolutis, lobo medio rotundo crispo-undulato, colore albo venis omnibus pulchre purpureis, columna brevi trigona. 
Laelia grandis Lindl. in Paxt. Fl. Gard., I (1850), p. 60, fig. 38. — Flore des Serres, VII, p. 238, 
cum fig. — Rchb. f. in Allg. Gartenz., XXIII (1855), p. 321. — Batem. in Gard. Chron ., 1864, p. 1202. —- 
Bot. Mag., t. 5553. — Flore des Serres , t. 2473. — Gartenflora, t. 698. — Orchid Album, III, t. 123. 
Bletia grandis Rchb. f., in Walp. Ann., VI, p. 424. 
Var. tenebrosa. Sepalis petalisque cupreis, labello purpureo disco atropurpureo. 
Var. tenebrosa Hort. 
aelia grandis was originally introduced to European gardens in 1849, 
when it was sent from the neighbourhood of Bahia, by M. Pinel to his 
fellow countryman, M. Morel, at Paris. It flowered during May of the 
following year, when a sketch of the plant and a single flower were sent by 
M. Morel to D r Lindley, who described it in Paxton’s Flower Garden , under the 
name it now bears. A figure of the flower was also given, but it was evidently in 
a withered condition when drawn, for the segments are represented in a very 
unnatural position. Lindley describes the flowers as large, nankeen-yellow, with 
a white lip, washed with rose at base inside, veined with purple, and with a pure 
white border. He speaks of its affinity being with L. Perrinii and L. majalis , 
which is hardly correct, for L. xanthina , on the one hand, and L. purpurata on the 
other, are clearly its nearest neighbours. The latter though very different in colour 
has many points of resemblance, both in habit and structure. 
In 1855 a plant flowered in the collection of Consul Schiller, of Hamburg, 
but the species remained extremely rare until 1864, when it was again introduced 
by Messrs Hugh Low & C°, of Clapton, from Bahia. About the same time, some 
plants were sent by Mr. Williams from the same locality to the Royal Gardens, 
Kew, one of which flowered there in 1865, and was figured in the Botanical 
Magazine , this being the first coloured figure of the species published. 
Until quite recently very little variation in the species has been observed, 
but now the very distinct variety figured in the accompanying plate has appeared, 
and is represented in several collections. My first acquaintance with it dates 
from May, 1889, when a flower from the collection of H. Tate, Esq., jun r , of 
Allerton Beeches, near Liverpool, was sent by the Liverpool Horticultural C°. 
