Tab. 4164 

 MASDEVALLIA fenestrata. 



Windowed Masdevallia. 



Nat. Ord. OechidevE. — Gynandeia Monandeia. 



Gen. Char. MASDEVALLIA. Ruiz et Pav.—Perianthium clau- 

 sum, sepalis acuminatis v. aristatis in tubum carapanulatum connatum. 

 Petala nana. Labellum nanum, oblongura, concavum, integrum, cum 

 columna articulatum. Columna erecta, linearis, canaliculata. Anthera 

 (hemisphserica). Pollinia cluo, caudicula brevi. — Herbae/o/m Pleurothal- 

 lidis, scapis unifloris. Lindl. 



Masdev alli a fenestrata; folio oblongo emarginato petiolo multo longiore 

 cauli subffiquali, floribus aggregatis, pedunculis petiolo vix sequalibus, 

 sepalis carinatis apice connatis dorsali utrinque infra apicem libera 

 ideoque fenestram efficiente, petalis obovatis mucronulatis, labelli tri- 

 lobi lobis lateralibus subtriangularibus intermedio ovato acuto ciliato. 

 Lindl MSS. 



Masdevallia fenestrata. Lindl. ined. 



This is one of the very curious productions of nature, of 

 which there are such frequent instances in the Orchideous 

 plants. The plant is not only singular in color, the flowers 

 being externally of a dee}* blackish blood-o »lor, but still more 

 singular in form, with the sepals united below and at the 

 apex, leaving a small space much below the apex, whicli is 

 open and window-like ; the whole representing the head of a 

 bird, with a perforation where the eyes should be. Our 

 plants were sent from Jamaica by our Collector, Mr. Purdie, 

 in 1843, and they flowered in October, 1844, and during 

 most of the winter months, in the Orchideous House of the 

 Royal Gardens. 



Descr. Plants growing clustered: each consisting of & 

 stem, or petiole, clothed with sheathing scales, and terminated 

 by a solitary (rarely two) oblongo-elliptical leaf. Peduncles 

 aggregated in the upper sheath at the base of the leaf, 

 d<'Hexed, bracteated, single-flowered. Flower (large in pro- 

 portion to the plant) of a dark brown or blood-color: the 

 three sepals united, except at a small opening below the apex; 



