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Platk XXXIII. 



MASDEVALLIA VEITCIT1ANA. 



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A dwarf-growing cooWtovc plant of extraordinary beauty, remarkable not only for Ihc singular form of its flower*, 

 but for tlicir brilliant ami almost indescribable colouring. 'Hie plant form* a tufted mass with short sterna, which 

 supjKirt the fl«h] bright-green leaves: these art* lincnr*ol>long, bluntish. six inches long or more, and about 

 an inch and n half wide, tridentate at the apex* and often uttcuuatcd towards the ba>o. The flowers arc 

 numerous from the base of the stem, solitary on alendcr erect scapes, which are bracteato in llie upper pari, 

 the conspicuous portion nf the flower consisting almost entirely of the scpolinc divisions of the perianth, the 

 petals and lip minute being enclosed in the mouth of the perianth tube. The sepal* are connected below into a 

 campamilatc tube* the upper or dorsal one broadly ovate with a long < -uidate point, and the lateral ones hr^cr, 

 obliquely-ovate, and suddenly narrowed to a point. The colour is very brilliant and remarkable, described aa 

 a ipkodH illumine red, a portion nf tho surface being flushed with a rich velvety purple hue, attributable to 

 the presence of innumerable coloured papilla in tho«* parts in which the flush of purple ftppetlt; tin* petti* 

 are small, ligolftte, white; the lip also is small, violet, with a blacki&h.violet tubercle ut its npe\ ; the column 

 is three*tooUnd T winged, white with a few* unlet blotches. 

 tfXswsvAiXtt Votoiiaka, lloctunlmh JiU Gardeners Chromed 1SGS, S14; Hooker JiL Boinnlcol Uoffaeine, 

 t. 5739; Moore* Florist and Pomologirt, IS7S, 1G0> with coloured plate. 



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It is a curious fact that, in many instances, the first species of a genus which is introduced to our 

 garden*, ultimately proves to be the most worthless from a decorative point of new. The genus to which 

 the species which forms the subject of the annexed plate belongs, is ccrtaiuly no exception to this rule, for wo 

 have long had such kinds as MasdevaWa femslrata, M. infracta,m\& J/, citili*, in our collections j but 

 their small flowers, and sombre colours, offered no great inducement to plant growers to add them to their 

 collections, and consequently Ma&devaWa was not a popular genus; although for scientific study these were 

 species equally valuable with their more gaudy and attractive relatives. As, however, it is to amateurs, who 

 mnke .elections from among the most charming species their study, that we chietty address ourselves in these 

 pages, we have much pleasure in now bringing under their notice this superb plant, the singular beauties of 

 which, coupled with its extraordinary colours, baffle the skill of the roost accomplished artist to reproduce 



them on paper. 



MasdecaMa* are natives of the humid mountain forests of the Western Hemisphere. The Fact that 



they have to be sent through the hot regions in their homeward journey, coupled with another fact, that thcy 

 huve no pseudobulbs to support them during their transit, has led to the loss of many line new forms, winch 

 would now, otherwise, have enriched our Orchid houses. M. Veitchiana lias been successfully mtroduced. 

 and thoroughlv established, and the only other wish we have respecting it is, to see it more generally dis- 

 tributed throughout the country. It has been said that the species now under Moderation is the most 

 beautiful of the whole genus , but latterly we have had several dangerous rivals introduced, so that we must 

 perforce be content to say it is one of tho roost beautiful, and certainly one of the largest-flowered of winch 



ns vet wo have any knowledge. 



The stem-like i^udobulbs are upwards of six incites in height, bearing each a huge dark-green shining 



