—_ 
Tas. 6258. 
MASDEVALLIA potysticra. 
Native of Northern Peru. 
Nat. Ord. OrncaipE#.—Tribe PLEUROTHALLIDEZ. 
Genus MAspevattta, Ruiz and Pav. (Lindl. Gen. and Sp. Orchid, p. 192). 
Maspevatita polysticta ; foliis obovato-lanceolatis in petiolum gracilem angustatis 
apice 2-dentatis, scapis gracilibus folia excedentibus nudis, floribus racemosis 
niveis purpureo-punctatis, bracteis lanceolatis ovaria equantibus, sepalorum 
tubo breviter campanulato basivalde gibbo et tumido intus puberulo, lobis semi- 
circularibus erosis in caudas patentes duplo longiores abrupte angustatis, 
petalis parvis falcato-oblongis apices versus erosis, labello linguzformi 
apicem versus in lobum terminalem sequilatum undulatum rotundatum 
desinente, disco obscure carinato, columna superne serrata. 
M. polysticta, Reichb. f. in Gard. Chron. 1874, vol. i. p. 338, and ii. 290. 
This sparkling little Masdevallia is one of three brought 
to notice by Reichenbach in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, as 
having been imported from Peru by Mr. Ortgies of the 
Botanic Gardens of Zurich; all of these are natives of the 
temperate region of the Andes in Northern Peru, and were 
discovered by Mr. Roezl; of these the subject of the plate 
flowered simultaneously with Messrs. Veitch, and in the Prince 
Carl Egon zu Fiirstenberg’s Garden at Donaueschingen. Our 
drawing was, however, made from a plant that flowered with 
Mr. Green, of Reigate, in March of last year. Mr. Roezl in- 
formed Dr. Reichenbach that he had found tufts of this 
species with twenty racemes of flowers ; and that it was quite 
like Odontoglossum nevium or O. blandum. 
_ Duscr. Densely tufted. Zeaves with the petiole four to five 
inches long, obovate-oblanceolate, narrowed into the slender 
petiole, 2-toothed at the tip, bright green, 3-nerved, chan- 
nelled down the middle; basal sheaths short, appressed, 
greenish. Scapes numerous, slender, exceeding the leaves, 
naked, 5-6-flowered ; bracts lanceolate, exceeding the ovary, 
pedicels short. Ovary short, turgid, with three crenulate 
angles. Flowers 13 inch in diameter from the tip of the 
