Tab. 5476. 



MASDEVALLIA civilis. 



Tufted Masdevattia. 



Nat. Ord. Orchide^. — Gynandria Monantiria. 



Gen. Char. Pei'igonii foliola exteriora in tubum connata, apiee libero Ionge 

 lingulata ; interiors libera, nana. Labellum cum columna articulatum, sessile, 

 oblongum, coneavum, nanum. Columna incurva, semiteres. Anthera bilocu- 

 laris, terminalis, opercularis. Pollinia 2, integra, caudiculis duabus fdiforaribus, 

 elastice replicatis, glandtdm conies) affixa. — Herbs) Peruana, epiphytes; rhizo- 

 mate parvo repente ; foliis oblongo-lanceolatis, basi in petiolum angudatis ; scapis 

 radiealibus unifloris ; floribus majusculis. Midi. 



Masdevallia civilis; canlibus dense casspitosis teretibus vaginatis unifoliatis, 

 folio lineari-oblongo acuto basi sensim attennato, pedunculis brevibus radi- 

 ealibus unifloris, sepalis in tubum amplum inferno gibboso-calcaratum, api- 

 cibus longe subulatis subrecurvis, petalis oblique oblongo-spatlmlatis labelli 

 longitudine ei'ectis, labello ad basin columns) decurrentis articulato erecto 

 oblongo parum concavo carnoso medio lineis duabus versus apicem lineis 

 tribus elevatis, dorso obtuse carinato, columns; apice bialato alis inflexis. 



Masdevallia civilis. Reichenb. fil. et Warszew. in Boupl. v. 2. p. 115, et M 

 Walp. Ann. Pot. 8yd. v. 6. p. 190. 



Of the singular genus Masdevallia, to which this pretty Or- 

 chideous plant belongs, very few species are yet figured, compared 

 to what are at present known in books. One kind alone was 

 known to the authors of the genus, Ruiz and Pavon ; three only 

 to Dr. Lindley at the time his ' Genera and Species of Orchi- 

 deous Plants ' appeared ; while thirty-six are now recorded by 

 Reichenbach fil. in Walpers' 'Annates Botanices Systematica?. ' 

 We owe the present species, which was discovered by Warszewicz 

 in Peru, to the kindness of Mr. Schiller, of Hamburg, and who 

 sent it to us as the M. civilis, Reich, fil. All that are known of 

 the genus are of the New World. The only one yet figured in 

 the 'Botanical Magazine' is the M. fenestrate at our Tab. 4164, 

 where the sepals, besides being combined at the base into a 

 tube, are united at the apex also, so as to leave a loophole as it 

 were above the middle of the flower. 



NOVEMBER 1st, 1864. 



