LÆLIA HARPOPHYLLA. [Plate 117.] Native of Brazil. Epiphytal. _Stems_ slender, terete, six inches to a foot high, invested with sheathing bracts, monophyllous. _Leaves_ ligulate, acuminate, about an inch in breadth, dark green. _Peduncle_ issuing from a longish terete sheath, and having raceme about six inches long. _Flowers_ four to seven in a raceme, rather small in size, but highly coloured, and very attractive; _sepals_ lanceolate, acute, one and three-quarter inch in length, and of a bright orange-vermilion; _petals_ similar in size, form, and colour; _lip_ three-lobed, the side lobes erect plane, of the some orange colour as the sepals, with the acute upper front angle whitish and somewhat drawn out, the margins just meeting over the column, the middle lobe creamy white, the disk marked with four orange-coloured lines, about twice as long as the side lobes, linear acuminate, recurved, with a crispy margin; keels nearly obsolete. Lælia harpophylla, _Reichenbach fil._, in _Gardeners’ Chronicle_, 1873, 542; _Floral Magazine_, N.S., t. 372; _Garden_, xxiii., 116, t. 400. This, observes Professor Reichenbach, is one of those curious plants which “are not decided species, and yet they must be named and registered. It would be _Lælia cinnabarina_, if it had not a stem as thin as that of a showy _Pleurothallis_, a single acuminate leaf, and much narrower and straighter parts of the flower.” * * * “Perhaps it is a mule between a _Brassavola_ and _Lælia cinnabarina_?” Whatever its origin and direct relationship, there is no doubt that it is one of the most distinct and beautiful of Orchids, as it affords a colour that is not only rare, but exceedingly effective. The flowers may be considered small as compared with the majority of the species of _Lælia_, which, indeed, are generally large-flowered, and rank among the most gorgeous and showy of Orchids, but even in this species they measure fully three inches across. It is a singular fact, that most of the orchidaceous species with orange-vermilion flowers have blossoms smaller than those of other colours. We have often noticed this fact amongst the Orchids that we have met with, and, indeed, it my be observed through nearly all the genera, that there are no large-sized flowers of this orange or vermilion colour. We are, however, hopeful that our energetic collectors may succeed in importing some having this character. It is true the _Sophronites grandiflora_ bears highly coloured vermilion-scarlet flowers which may be considered large in proportion to the size of the plant, and a most charming Orchid it is, but we should, nevertheless, welcome some examples, at least, of these brilliant and startling colours among those larger-growing subjects which produce larger flowers.