MASDEVALLIA CURTIPES Rodrig. 
Masprvaniaa cuntives Rodrig. Gen. et Spec. Orch. Noy. 11. (1881), p. 95. 
Leat about 5 inches Jong. linear-lanccolate, narrowing below into a slender grooved petiole, dark 
green, apex tridenticulate, 
Peduncle, including pedicel, about 14 inch long, terete, ascending from the base of the petiole, dark 
ereen, bract 2 inch long, ovate, apiculate, membranous, sheathing below, brownish. 
Ovary Linch long. with six grooves, whitish-green. 
5 
Sepals cohering, forming a narrow tube about 4 inch long, gibhous below, free portion of the upper 
sepal very short. triangular, 3-nerved, terminating in a slender tail nearly 1 inch long; lateral sepals 
roundly triangular, 3-nerved, terminating in slender tails inch long, all dull purplish-red, tails bright 
vellow. 
Petals lincar. with an angle on the anterior margin near the base, apex hooked, white spotted with 
crimson. 
Lip oblong. with rounded lateral lobes, apex linguiform, acute, recurved, with minute central 
papillee, white. 
Column very thick. shorter than the petals, white. apex minutely denticulate. 
jy (SS oe CURTIPES was discovered in 1879 by Senhor Barbosa Rodriguez, 
in the damp unexplored forests of Rodeio, a few miles north of Rio de Janeiro, 
flowering in May and June. No drawing of this curious little plant has hitherto been 
published, the accompanying Plate being a copy of a drawing from nature prepared by 
Senhor Rodriguez for his great work on the Orchids of Brazil, not yet completed. 
MW. curtipes is at present unknown in this country, the only Brazilian species in cultiva- 
tion being JZ. ingracta, from which it differs considerably in the extreme shortness of its 
flower-stalk and in the dull uniform colour of its flowers. 
The original description by Senhor Rodriguez is as follows : 
“MW. caule secundaria trigono, brevi, multo minore folio; folio lineari-lanceolato, basi 
attenmmto, apice tridentata, antice canaliculato; scapo caule secundario longitudine ; sepatis 
connatis eupuliformibus, superiore minore, breviter triangulato, longe-cristato, inferioribus 
majoribus et latioribus cn aristis valde productis; petalis carnosis, antice semi- 
canalicnlatis, apice unicinatis; labello trilobato, lobulis lateralibus lamina a basi emarginata, 
erecta, aptee sub-rotunda sub haee lamina est unguis et in apiece lobo medio qui est 
linguiformi, grantoso in centrum, acuto et recurve.” 
Explanation of Plate : 
Fig. 1, sepals detached and spread out, natural size ;—2. petal, inner side ;—3, lip, front view ;— 
4. lip. side view :—A, column : all enlarged. 
