MASDEVALLIA DAVISII Rchb. f. 
Maspevari1a Davis Rehb. f. Gard. Chron. 1874, pt. II., p. 710; 1876, pt. L p. 366; 1881, pt. IL, p. 
236 ; Bot. Mag. t. 6190 (1875); Gartenflora (Regel) XXV. (1876), p. 57; XXVIL. (1878), p. 207 
and 208 ; Xen. Orch. II. (1878), p. 3, pl. 203 ; Orch. Album (Warn. et Will.) II. (1883), pl. 76; 
Veitch Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889), p. 38. 
Leaf 6 or 7 inches long, and about 4 or 2 inch wide, oblong-lanceolate, apex sharply tridenticulate, 
narrowing below into a slender grooved petiole, sheathed at the base, bright green. 
Peduncle, with pedicel, 9 or 10 inches long, terete, slender, ascending from a joint near the base of 
the petiole, with two or three sheathing bracts, pale green, with small crimson streaks ; flowering bract 
1 inch long, oblong-ovate, apiculate, carinate, sheathing below, pale green. 
Ovary about 3 inch long, curved, with six rounded angles, bright green. 
Sepals : dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for about } inch, forming a narrow tube, ovate- 
i yd ? co} ? 
triangular for about 3 inch, 3-nerved, terminating in a slender tail nearly 1 inch long; lateral sepals coher- 
ing for 14 or 1? inch, oblong-ovate, 3-nerved, terminating in slender tails nearly 4 inch long ; all brilliant 
yellow. 
Petals 2 inch long, oblong, apiculate, anterior margin strongly keeled and angled, very pale yellow, 
the inner surface viscid beneath the keel. 
Lip about } inch long, oblong-pandurate, with two obscure longitudinal keels, grooved and fleshy 
at the base, united to the curved foot of the column by a very flexible hinge, yellow, shaded and spotted 
with red, apex crimson, much reflexed, with a central velvety crimson cushion. 
Column } inch long, white, yellow at the foot, narrowly winged with crimson, apex minutely crenate, 
pale yellow. 
ISCOVERED in 1873 in the Eastern Cordillera of Peru, not far from Cuzco, by 
Davis, a collector for Mr. Veitch, whose account of its habitat given in his 
“Manual of Orchidaceous Plants,” I quote as follows : “It occurs on the slopes of the 
mountains at an immense elevation, probably not less than 10,500—12,000 feet, growing 
in.loam and moss, and also in decaying vegetable matter collected in the crevices of the 
rocks. Its geographical range appears to be very restricted, extending but a few miles 
along the flanks of the mountains within the vertical limits stated above, but where, 
however, plants were seen in all stages of growth, from the smallest seedlings to masses 
of considerable size.” 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a plant at Newbattle Abbey : 
Fic. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—la, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ;— 
ro} ? } ? Ps ’ ’ ? y ‘} ? } ? ? 
3a, apex of lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; all enlarged ;—5, apex and section of leaf, 
3, lip ; 
natural size. 
