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MASDEVALLIA PACHYURA Rechb. f. ; 
MaspevaLtia Pacnyuka Rehb. f. Gard. Chron. 1874, pt. IL, p. 322; 1881, pt. II., p. 336; Linnea 
MILT. (1877), p. 12: 
Leaf 5 or G inches long and nearly 1 inch wide, oval-oblong, narrowing below into a slender grooved 
petiole sheathed at the base, apex tridenticulate, bright green, petiole dull purple. 
Peduncle about 6 inches long, terete, slender, ascending from the base of the petiole, with three or - 
four flowers at intervals of about half-an-inch, pale green, with very minute crimson spots on the upper 
half, and two sheathing bracts below ; flowering bracts minute, apiculate, membranous, pale brownish- 
green. . 
Ovary 4 inch long, triangular, with six crenate wings, dull green spotted with dark crimson. 
Sepals : dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for about 4%, inch, forming a wide tube, gibbous 
below, 3-nerved, ovate, cucullate, margins slightly toothed, pale whitish yellow, semi-transparent, covered 
with small transverse reddish-crimson spots, the central nerve carinate, green, terminating in a slender 
yellow tail nearly 4 inch long ; lateral sepals cohering for about 4 inch, oblong, 3-nerved, margins 
reflexed, free portion about } inch long, yellow, with reddish-crimson spots and a dark crimson central 
streak, base dark crimson, central nerves strongly carinate on the outer surface, tapering into orange- 
yellow tails about 3 inch long. : 
Petals about } inch long, obcordate, acuminate, the margins strongly serrate, with two lateral keels, 
pale yellow. 
Lip a little longer than the petals, united to the foot of the column by a flexible hinge, pandurate, 
with two lateral Jobes terminating in short keels, apex rounded, pale yellow covered with minute red spots. 
Column equalling the petals, winged, apex minutely denticulate, greenish-yellow with crimson wings 
and apex, and a few minute crimson spots on the inner surface. 
WN ASDEVALLIA PACHYURA was discovered by Roezl in the Mountains of 
Ecuador, and was first described by Reichenbach in 1874 from dried specimens. 
The plant represented in the accompanying Plate was recently imported by Consul 
Lehmann for Mr. James O'Brien, to whose kindness I am indebted for the opportunity 
of drawing the first flowers of this species ever seen in cultivation. 
Consul Lehmann sends me the following note : 
M. pachyura has a comparatively smal] distribution along the western slopes of the Western Andes 
of Ecuador, from the Mountains of Zaruma in 3°30! S. lat., to the western slopes of Chimborazo in 
1° S. lat., at an elevation of 1,700 to 2,300 métres (5,525 to 7,475 feet). It is abundant in one small 
district. only, viz, around Cayandelet on the road from Puente de Chimbo to Sibambe, and above 
Pallatanga on the road trom Puente de Chimbo to Cajabamba. In all other localities it is very rare. It 
usually grows on trees in very damp thick woods, but occasionally I have found it growing upon walls of 
rock, as at Gualashay on the road to Guaranda. It flowers in March and April, and sometimes also in 
November. The mean temperature of its habitat ranges from 15° to 18° Centigrade (59° to 64°.4 
Fahrenheit). 
The plants of Mf. pachyura which I sent to Mr. O’Brien under the name of M. tridens I had never 
seen in flower, and only guessed them to be the latter. Many species of this section ( Amande Rchb. f./ 
grow mixed together—for instance, M. Lehmanni, M. melanopus, M. anachete, M. abbreviata,, 
M. pachyura and M. tridens—and as the leaves of all are very much alike, it is a difficult matter to 
distinguish one from another when out of flower. 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from Mr. O’Brien’s plant: 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—la, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ;— 
3, lip ;—Sa. side of lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; a/l enlarged. 
