MASDEVALLIA MELANOPUS Rchb. f. 
MASDEVALLIA MELANOPUS Rehb. f. Gard. Chron. 1874, pt. L., p. 338 (nomen tantum); pt. IL., p. 322 ; 
1875, pt. I, p. 136; Ve'teh Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889), p. 52. 
Leaf 4 or 5 inches long, oblong-lanceolate, narrowing below into a slender pale green petiole sheathed 
at the base, bright shining green, the back dull green and covered with very minute blackish dots, apex 
tridenticulate. 
Peduncle 8 or 9 inches long, terete, slender, ascending from within a sheath at the base of the petiole, 
green, spotted with dark crimson, flowers six or eight, all directed to one side ; bracts small, membranous, 
sheathing the pedicels, brownish. 
Ovary 4 inch long, grooved, with crenate wings, green. 
Sepals all cohering for about 4 inch, forming a very narrow tube, slightly gibbous below, free portion 
very short, triangular, 3-nerved, tapering into flattened yellow tails about $ inch long, white, with a 
blackish-purple stain at the base, and very minute blackish-purple dots upon the outer surface, especially 
along the central nerves, and upon the outer side of the tails. 
Petals } inch long, linear at the base, obcordate, apiculate, the margins serrate, with a fleshy angled 
keel on the anterior margin, white, the kee] dark crimson. 
Lip about 3 inch long, grooved at the base and united to the curved foot of the column by a flexible 
hinge, lateral lobes oblong, white edged with crimson, central Jobe narrower, with two obtuse longitudinal 
keels, apiculate, vellow. 
Column 4 little shorter than the petals, green, marked and narrowly winged with dark crimson, apex 
crenate, foot very dark crimson. 
ASDEVALLIA MELANOPUS was one of three species discovered by Roezl in the 
Andes of North Peru, and named by Professor Reichenbach in 1874 from dried 
specimens. Much confusion exists as to the identity of Reichenbach’s original 
M. melanopus, and many forms and varieties of M. abbreviata are cultivated under this 
name. The plant here represented wassent to me from Glasnevin by Mr. F. W. Moore, 
and I at once recognised it as agreeing more nearly than any that I had previously seen, 
with the original description of Mf. melanopus published by Professor Reichenbach, who 
says (Gard. Chron. 1874, pt. IL, p. 322) :—“ The flowers would appear to be whitish, and 
all directed to one side. The ovary, the base of the perigone, and the three bristles are 
very dark, perhaps greenish black or brawnish black ; when the flowers are dried these ~ 
parts look black. There are also some small dots of the same colour over the perigone, 
but they are only well seen with a lens.” 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a plant at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin : 
Fig. 1, petals, lip, and column, in natural position ;—la, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ;— 
3, lip, front view ;—3a, lip, side view :—4, column ;—4a, apex of column; all enlarged;—5, apex and 
section of leaf, natural size. 
