The following article was written
for the Orchid Species Bulletin published by the Orchid
Species Society, which is based in Brisbane, Queensland in July 2005.
Bear in mind that any cultivation notes refer to the sub-tropical conditions of Southern Queensland, Australia.
Laelia albida Lindl. was
first described by John Lindley in the Botanical
Register in 1839. The derivation
of the specific epithet is from the Latin albidus
meaning whitish. James Bateman had
suggested the name since the basic colour of the flower was white.
At that time it was a novelty in the genus because all the other species
known had flowers that were rose or lilac in colour.
L.
albida is almost always known as an epiphyte.
It is recognised by the clustered, ovoid elongated pseudobulbs that are
wrinkled when old and are 3-4 cm long. The
two or sometimes three,
linear-lanceolate, leathery dark green leaves at the apex of the pseudobulb are
10-20 cm long and 1.2-1.8 cm across. The
apical inflorescence is 20-60 cm long and carries 5-12 flowers at the end.
Each flower is 2.4-5 cm across with a strong fragrance of honey.
The sepals and petals are white or whitish cream sometimes with the tips
tinged with pink. The lip is white,
pale rose to deep rose and the centre of the lip has 3 parallel yellow keels.
The base of the lip may be lined with radiating spots of red-purple.
L.
albida is distributed in 
trees but sometimes on yuccas or rarely on rocks, at
elevations from 1,300-2,600 m altitude in mixed open, dry deciduous forests of
pine, oak and juniper. Plants from
the north-western part of the habitat produce very short inflorescences that
scarcely exceed the length of the leaves and the flowers are small.
The plants from