MASDEVALLIA. 385 



tapered at the base into a petiole ; the peduncles which grow 

 up with the petioles are one or less frequently many-flowered. 

 The peculiar feature of their flowers is that the three sepals 

 are connivent into a tube, less frequently free to the base, the 

 points of the sepals being extended into a tail-like form, and 

 the petals and lip are usually small and inconspicuous. They 

 are natives of Tropical and Central America, more than a 

 hundred species having been discovered, most of them within 

 the last few years. 



Culture. — The Masdevallias are beautiful neat-growing 

 plants, and should be in every collection, for they occupy 

 but little space, and are both free-blooming and free-growing, 

 provided they get the treatment they require. They were 

 for a long time grown in too much heat by the majority of 

 Orchid cultivators, but are found to grow best in the cool 

 house with and under the same treatment as Odontoglossums. 

 They should be potted in peat and sphagnum moss, with good 

 drainage, and always kept moist at the roots, though never 

 allowed to get soddened by the presence of bad soil or deficient 

 drainage, which is too often the case with these plants. It is 

 a good plan to keep live sphagnum about the roots, which not 

 only looks neat and pleasing to the eye, but is an index to the 

 sweetness of the soil beneath, and an indication that it has not 

 become soddened by excess of stagnant water. Thus grown 

 in a cool house they will produce a profusion of flowers, and 

 will sometimes bloom twice during the year. 



Masdevallias require, however, considerable attention and 

 care to keep them in good order, being subject to the attacks 

 of the red thrips, which, if allowed to accumulate, will soon 

 disfigure the fohage and cause the plants to dwindle away ; it 

 is, therefore, necessary to keep a watchful eye to prevent the 

 intrusion of these pests, and to well wash the plants whenever 

 the first trace of them is seen. The plants should be placed 



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