I have argued that sobral ias, in general, are hard to classify, and that their delicate, short-lived flowers do not help us much ( Dressler 2009). Sobralia decora Bateman was published in 1841 ( Bateman 1841). The plant described by John Bate - man was from somewhere in Guatemala, but no one knows just where. Ten years later, Hooker’s Botanical Magazine published a drawing (t. 4570) as “Sobralia sessilis,” stating that it was from British Guiana (where Sobralia sessilis certainly grows), but the drawing is clearly Sob. decora in every detail.
