MASDEVALLIA MILITARIS Rchb. f. 
Masprevatiia xaurraris Rehb. f. Bonplandia IT. (1854), pp- 115 and 283; Walp. Ann. VI. (1861), p. 193 ; 
Gard. Chron. 1880, pt. L, p. 7423 1881, pt. II., p. 336; Veitch Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889), p. 52. 
M. ignea Rebb. f. Gard. Chron. 1871, p. 1482; 1872, p. 545, fig. 149; p. 571, var. Marshalliana Rehb. f.; 
1873, p. 1079 ; 1881, pt. I., p. 136, var. Stobartiana Kehb. f. ; pt. IL, p. 303, fig. 57 (as in 1872) ; 
IS84. pt. I, p. 741, in group fig. 141; Bot. Mag. t. 5962 (1872); Floral Mag. 1872, pl.15; Florist 
and Pomol. 1873, p. 169, with eol. fig. ; Gartenflora (Regel) vol. XXV. (1876), p. 193, pl. 870 (as 
M. coccinea Lind.) ; Garden 1878, pt. I, p. 102, pl. CXII.; 1885, pt. IL, p. 289, with fig. ; Ilustr. 
Hort. vol. XXVI. (1879), p. 8, t- 333 5 p. 136, t. 357, var. Boddaerti hort. Lind. ; Orchid Album 
vol. IL. (1883), pl. 62; vol. VI. (1887), pl. 278, var. Massangeana Will.; Orchidophile (Godefroy) 
vol. I. (1881-3), p. 196, with fig.; p. 834; vol. V. (1885), p. 367, with fig. ; Lindenia vol. V. 
(18s9), pl. CCXIX., p. 57 ; Veitch Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889), p. 46. 
Leaf (with petiole) 8 or 9 inches long, oblong-lanceolate, coriaceous, slightly carinate, apex trident- 
iculate. dark green, narrowing below into a grooved petiole, sheathed at the base. 
Peduncle 12 to 15 inches long, with two or three sheathing bracts, terete, ascending from within the 
sheath at the base of the petiole, bright green streaked with crimson ; flowering bract about 1 inch long, 
sheathing below, ovate-apiculate above, yellowish-green. 
Ovary about % inch long, with six rounded angles, green spotted with crimson. 
Sepals : dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for nearly 1 inch, forming a narrow curved tube, free 
portion triangular for ¢ inch, 3-nerved, tapering into a slender deflexed tail 14 or 14 inch long ; lateral 
sepals cohering for nearly 1 inch, elliptic-oval, 3-nerved, margin reflexed, terminating in short blunt 
crimson-scarlet tails ; various shades of orange and scarlet, veined and edged with cinnabar-red. 
Petals nearly 4} inch long, linear-oblong, curved, apiculate, with a strong keel near the anterior margin 
prolonged below into a curved angle, beneath which is a mass of viscid matter, tasteless and colourless ; 
white or ivory, with a crimson central line. 
Lip about } inch long, fleshy and grooved at the base and united to the curved foot of the column by 
a flexible hinge, lincar-oblong, white and yellow, grooved in the centre, with two short longitudinal crimson 
keels. margins crenate and more or less reflexed, apex recurved, cordate, apiculate, yellow. 
Column } or 2 inch long, white, narrowly winged with crimson, apex more or less denticulate. 
VERY variable species, of which the earliest known form was discovered by 
Warscewiez in January 1849, near Ocanha in the mountains of Santander, 
Colombia, at an elevation of 9,000 to 10,000 feet, and was named Masdevallia militaris 
by Professor Reichenbach. Out of a large consignment of plants sent to Europe by 
a 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a plant at Newbattle Abbey : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—1la, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ;— 
3, lip ;—3a. apex of lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; all enlarged ;—4, apex and section of leaf, 
natural size. 
