Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.21582
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    ‘Lælia superbiens’

    Date
    1843
    Creator
    Maxim Gauci (1774 - 1854, Italian) , Lithographer
    Paul Gauci (British) , Printer
    Creator - Organisation
    J Ridgway & Sons, Publisher
    After
    Sarah Anne Drake (1803 - 1857, British) , Illustrator
    Object type
    Library reference
    26846
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 580mm
    width (print): 430mm
    Subject
    Biology
       > Botany
    Content object
    nature
       > plant
    Description
    Botanical illustration of Lælia superbiens or the gorgeous Lælia orchid. Depicting a single specimen with three long pseudobulbs, segmented and sheathed in papery membrane. A pair of leaves issue form the apex of bulbs and a single flower stem, which has been cut from the main plant, is positions in the centre of the composition. The bract supports numerous soft pink flowers bunched closely together, with elongated sepals and petals with a slightly funnelled lip with deep yellow centre. The illustration is partially coloured.

    Inscribed ‘Pl.38 , Miss Drake, delt. LAELIA SUPERBIENS. M. Gauci, lith. Pubd. by J Ridgway & Sons, 169 Piccadilly, March 1843. Printed by P. Gauci.’

    Plate 38 from The Orchidaceae of Mexico & Guatemala by James Bateman (London, 1843).

    James Bateman (1811-1897), British horticulturalist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1838.
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