MASDEVALLIA NIDIFICA Rchb. f. 
Maspevannia xipirica Rehb. ft. Otia Bot. Hamb, (1878). p. 185 Gard. Chron, 1879, pt. IL, p. 456} 
ISS], pt. IL. p. 836; 1888, pt TL, p. 628. 
Leaf 14 or 2 inches long. oval-oblong, leathery. apex tridenticulate, narrowing below in a very slender 
erooved petiole, sheathed at the base. 
Pedunele about 14 inch long. terete, very slender. ascending from within the sheath at the base of the 
petiole. dull greenish-crimson ; flowering bract about. 4, inch long, membranous, sheathing, apiculate, pale 
yrecn. 
Ovary 4, inch long. with six erenate wings. pale green spotted with crimson. 
Sepals: dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for 4, inch, forming a roundly inflated tube, gibbous 
beneath. 3-nerved, cucullate, rotundate, whitish, almost transparent, with a few small crimson spots on 
each side and rich crimson nerves, and terminating ina very slender dark crimson tail about 3 inch long ; 
lateral sepals cohering for about i; inch, S-nerved. ovate, pale transparent sparkling yellow, with one 
broad reddish-erimson streak in the centre, and 2 few minute crimson spots, and terminating in very 
slender pale yellow tails about 3 inch Jong ; all the sepals covered on the inner surface with microscopic 
velvety hairs. 
L inch Jong. linear-oblong, with a strong keel on the anterior margin, whitish, nearly 
Petals 4 
transparent, streaked with crimson. 
Lip a little longer than the petals, pandurate, curved, united to the curved foot of the column by a 
Hexible hinge, vellow, with three central crimson streaks. 
Column a little longer than the petals, narrowly winged, whitish or pale pink, marked and edged with 
crimson, apex entire, 
VILE first description of Masderallia nidifica was published by Professor Reichenbach 
in 1878, from dried specimens and a drawing sent to him by Consul Lehmann, who 
discovered the plant in 1877, in the Cordilleras of Quito, Ecuador. It grows in dense 
masses on the trunks and branches of trees in damp open woods, flowering profusely 
during the heaviest rains of February, throughout March and April, and again, even 
more abundantly, in September, the driest month of the year. 
There appear to be many varieties of M. nidifica, which differ chiefly in size, some 
being even smaller than the plant here represented, and others attaining a height of 
three inches. 
The best authority upon the habitat of this species is Consul Lehmann, its 
discoverer, Who says : 
Masdevallia nidifica Ws a very extensive ceographical distribution, ranging from Costa Rica, through 
Colombia and Ecuador, to the north of Peru. Its vertical range is also remarkable, extending from 500 
to 2.000 metres (1.625 to 6,500 feet) ubove the level of the sea. I know only one other species of 
Masdevallia which, found chiefly in Colombin, extends also into Costa Rica. I have found Af. nidifica in 
the following localities : 
In Costa Rien :—At La Palma nnd San Isidro between the two volcanoes of Irazi and Barba, in 
December 1881. 
In Colombia :-—At La Bramadora, near Yarumal, and at Frontino, at 1,200 to 1,600 metres (3,900 to 
5.200 feet); at Cajamarca in the western Andes of Roldanillo; on the western slopes of the Cerro 
Explanation of Plate : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—Ia. section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner wide ;— 
3. lip :- 4, column :—da, apex of colunm ; all enlarged ;—5, apex and section of leaf, natural size. 
