Tas. 8361. 
MASDEVALLIA PacHyurRa. 
Ecuador. 
OrcHiIpacear. Tribe EpipENDREAE, 
MAspEVALLIA, Ruiz et Pav.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 492, 
Masdevallia pachyura, Reichb. f. in Gard. Chron. 174, vol. ii. p. 322, et 
Linnaea, vol. xli. p. 12; Woolw. Monogr. Musdev. [p. 19, t. 4]; Gard. Chron. 
1897, vol. xxii. p. 255, fig. 77; inter species sectionis Amandae floribus 
majusculis rubro-punctatis distincta. 
Herba epiphytica, caespitosa, nana, epseudobulbosa. Folia conferta, petiolata, 
spathulato-oblonga, coriacea, apice subacuta et recurva; limbus’ basi 
attenuatus, 7-10 cm, longus, 1°5-2°5 em. latus; petioli 5-7 cm. longi, 
basi vaginis membranaceis obtecti. Scapi erccti graciles, 15-22 cm. longi ; 
yacemi laxi, 5-7-flori; bracteae ovatae, subobtusae, membranaceae, 5-7 mm. 
longae. Pedicelli circiter 4 mm. longi. Flores majusculi, straminei, rubro- 
bee rsa sepalorum lateralium caudae et nervae medianae flavae. Sepala 
asi in tubum brevem connata; posticum late elliptico-ovatum, cuculla- 
tum, breviter caudatum, circiter 2 em. longum; lateralia patentia anguste 
ovata, breviter caudata, caudis recurvis. ela/a oblonga, apice tridentata, 
circiter 7 mm. longa. Labellum pandurato-oblongum, obtusum, fere ad 
apicem tricarinatum. Columna clavata, 5 mm. longa.—M. tridens, Reichb. f. 
in Otia Bot. Hamb. p. 13.—R. A. Rotre, 
The plant of Masdevallia pachyura here figured was 
purchased for Kew at an auction sale in 1908, The 
species is a member of the small group Amandae, with 
racemose flowers and with the tube formed by the sepals 
distinctly constricted below. It is a native of Ecuador, 
where it was discovered by Roezl. It was first described by 
Reichenbach in 1874. Its introduction to cultivation we 
owe to the late Mr. Consul Lehmann, who sent plants to 
Mr. J. O’Brien, with whom it flowered for the first time in 
1897, Lehmann has noted that the range of this species is 
somewhat restricted, it being confined to the western slopes 
of Chimborazo, about one degree south of the Equator, at 
elevations of from 5,600 to 8,300 feet above sea level. It _ 
is abundant around Cayandelet and above Pallatanga. 
Usually found growing on trees in very damp thick woods, 
it also occurs occasionally on walls of rock. As a rule it 
Fesrcary, 1911. oe 
