Tas. 6152. 
MASDEVALLIA CHIMARA. 
Native of New Grenada. 
Nat. Ord. Orcuipr“z.—Tribe PLEUROTHALLIDES. 
Genus Masprvaiia, Ruiz. § Pav.; (Lindl. Gen. § Sp. Orchid., p. 192), 
Masbevatita Chimera ; caulibus fasciculatis, foliis 6-8-pollicaribus lineari- 
oblanceolatis acutis basi angustatis sed vix petiolatis carinatis, scapis 
curvis foliis brevoribus robustis 5—6-bracteatis, floribus horizontalibus, 
sepalis basi in tubum brevem late campanulatum profunde sulcatum 
connatis dein late ovatis in caudas tripollicares filiformi-subulatas 
abrupte angustatis citrinis sanguineo maculatis, intus pilis longis 
vestitis, marginibus reflexis, petalis brevibus cuneato-oblongis, labello 
breviter stipitato oblongo saccato, marginibus. inflexis dentatis, nervis 
intus carinatis, columna acuta. : 
M. Chimera, Reichb. f.-in Gard. Chron., 1872, p. 463; and 1875, p. 41, 
cum wc. xylog. Xen. Orchid., vol. ii. p. 195, t. 185; André Rev. Hortic., 
t. 117, 118. i. 
re 
bo 
A very singular plant, of which M. André says in the 
Illustration Horticole, that no name more applicable could 
be found for it than that given by Professor Reichenbach— 
namely, that of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, which 
had the body of a goat, the head of a lion, and tail of a 
dragon, and which vomited flames of fire. Without pushing 
the simile to an extreme, there is enough in the grotesque 
and almost threatening appearance of this plant, due to the 
arched flower-stalk and protruded flower, like the head and 
body of a viper about to strike, to justify Prof. Reichen- 
bach’s happy fancy in giving it the trivial name alluded to. 
Nor is it at all destitute of beauty; and though not so gor- 
geously coloured as M. ignea (Tab. nost. 5962), or M. Linden 
(Tab. 5990), it is well worthy of cultivation, anda plant likely 
to lend popularity to a genus of which new species are being 
yearly imported, and which for number and variety of 
species, facility of growth and neatness of habit, would alone 
satisfy the wants of a moderate collector of Orchids. Indeed, 
MARCH Ist, 1875, 
