MASDEVALLIA OPHIOGLOSSA Rechb. f. 
MASDEVALIIA ormtecniossa Reb. f Otia Bot. Hamb. (18c8). p-. ine 
Leaf nearly 2 inches long. oblong-linecolate, apex tridenticulate, bright green, narrowing below into 
a slender grooved petiole. sheathed at the base. 
Pedunele about 2) inches lone 
apientate, sheathing the base of the ovary, pale brownish-green. 
_ terete, slender, pale green, ascending from the sheath at the base of 
the petiole : braet )\, inel lone. 
Ovary vervo minute, with six erenate keels, pale green. 
Sepals cohering for nearly 2 ineh, forming a narrow tube, gibbous below, free portion very minute, 
s 
triangular, white. pale vellow at the base, terminating in slender pale vellow tails about 4 inch Jong. 
Petals very minute. lincar-lineeolate, angled on the anterior margin, white. 
Lipa little longer than the petals, united by a hinge to the curved foot of the column, cordate-oblong, 
narrowed towards the apex. with two pointed lateral lobes, white. 
* Columna clavata.” Rehb. ¢. 
AY ASDEVALLLA OPHIOGLOSSA was discovered in 1877, on the Western Andes 
of Quito, by Consul Lehmann, who sent dried specimens to Professor Reichenbach 
to be named and deseribed. This species has never been in cultivation, nor has any 
drawing of it hitherto been published, and we are indebted to Mr. Lehmann for the 
accompanying Plate. as well as for information respecting its habitat. He found the 
plant in Ecuador, growing on steep walls of yoleanic rock in thick damp woods near 
Quito, and also near Silante and Canzacoto on the western slopes of the Cerro del 
Corazon. at an clevation of 1,800 to 2,100 métres (5,850 to 6,825 feet). It is not an 
uncommon plant, and flowers from the middle of January to the end of March, some- 
times in great profusion. In the Boissier Herbarium there are fine specimens found in 
the same locality by Consul Lehmann, and named by him var. maxima. 
The species most nearly allied to JZ. ophioglossa are M. Wendlandiana and 
Mo pumila, of which the latter is not at present in cultivation. 
rao... Ula SS peat Ra eee es ee 
Explanation of Plate, from a drawing by Consul Lehmann : 
Fig. 1. petal. dip. and column ;—2, petal :—3, lip ;—3a, back of lip ; all much enlarged. 
