Tas. 8740. 
CRYPTOPHORANTHUS Davyanvus. 
Colombia. 
ORCHIDACEAE, Tribe EpIpDENDREAE. 
CrypropHorantuvs, Rodr.; Gen. et Sp. Orch. Nov. vol. ii. p. 79. 
Cryptophoranthus Dayanus, Rolfe in Gard. Chron. 1887, vol. ii. pp. 692, 
693, fig. 134, et in Ill. Hort. vol. xxxix. p. 21, t. 146; Veitch, Man. Orch. 
pars v. p. 9, cum icon. ; species a caeteris hujus generis floribus maximis 
facile distinguenda. 
Herba epiphytica, circiter 25 cm. alta. Caules aggregati, cylindracei, sub- 
graciles, vaginis spathaceo-oblongis subimbricatis obtecti, monophylli. 
Folia subsessilia, late elliptica vel orbiculari-elliptica, subobtusa, coriacea, 
6-9 cm. longa, 8°5-5°5 cm. lata. Flores axillares, solitarii vel pauci, 
magni, straminei, brunneo-maculati ; bracteae ovatae, apiculatae, 4-5 mm. 
longae ; pedicelli 1-1:5 em. longi. Sepala elliptico-oblonga, apice et basi 
connata, lateraliter libera, utrinque fenestrata, tubum clausum 3°5-4 em. 
longum apice recurvum et apiculatum formantia. Petala ovata, subobtusa, 
circiter 4 mm. longa. Labellwm hastato-oblongum, obtusum, 5 mm. 
longum, apice denticulatum, basi tuberculo conico verruculoso instructum. 
Ovarium alatum, alis crispo-undulatis. Colwmna oblonga, angulata, 
4 mm. longa. Pollinia 2, elliptico - ovoidea.— Masdevallia Dayana, 
Reichb. f. in Gard. Chron. 1880, vol. xiv. p. 295; id. 1884, vol. xxvi. p. 428, 
fig. 86.—R. A. Rours. 
The remarkable Orchid here figured is believed to have 
first appeared in cultivation in the collection of Mr. 
Linden. At a sale of his plants an example was acquired 
by the late Mr. J. Day of Tottenham as an undescribed 
festrepia, believed to be anative of New Granada. This 
plant flowered in Mr. Day’s collection in July, 1875, 
and five years later it was described for the first time 
by Professor Reichenbach as Musdevallia Dayana. The 
generic position then assigned to our plant was in 
keeping with that accorded to a near ally from Jamaica 
originally described by Professor Lindley as Specklinia 
atropurpurea, but later redescribed by the same author 
as Masdevallia fenestrata, Lindl. This Jamaican species 
has been figured at t. 4164 of this work where Sir William 
Hooker, who termed it the ‘‘ Windowed Masdevallia,” has 
Decemprr, 1917, 
