MASDEVALLIA CUCULLATA Lindl. 
Masprvatria cucurnata Lindl. Orch. Lindl. p. 4 (1846) ; Gard. Chron, 1878, pt. I, p. 72 (under M. 
corniculata) ; 1883, pt. I., p. 592; 1886, pt. IL, p. 747 ; Orchidophile (Godefroy) 1883, p- 660 ; 
Veitch Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889), p. 38. 
Leaf 9 or 10 inches long, oblong-lanceolate, carinate, apex tridenticulate, margins often recurved, 
bright green, narrowing below into a slender grooved petiole, pale green, sheathed at the base. 
Peduncle 4 or 5 inches long, ascending from a joint about an inch above the base of the petiole, 
terete, slender, with two or three bracts, pale green ; flowering bract about 1 inch long, entirely con- 
cealing the ovary and the base of the perianth, ovate, acuminate, with a rudimentary bud within at the 
base, pale green, sometimes spotted with crimson. 
Ovary about 2 inch long, triangular, with erenate wings and six deep grooves, very pale green. 
Sepals: dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for about % inch, forming a wide tube, gibbous 
beneath, pale green, and having within at the base a rounded shining excrescence, dark crimson, free 
portion 2 inch long, triangular, with three nerves, two of which bifureate near the base ; lateral sepals 
cohering for 4 inch, free portions 3 inch long, ovate-triangular, with three nerves, two of which bifureate 
near the base, all claret-crimson, and tapering into very slender tails 1 or 2 inches long, dark crimson, 
greenish at the back. 
Petals about } inch long, linear-oblong, angled on both margins, white, apex obtuse, reflexed, angled, 
and covered on the inner surface with crimson papille. 
Lip 4 inch long, oblong, grooved down the centre, with a small nectary on each side at the base, and 
two longitudinal keels on the anterior portion, crimson, paler in the centre, apex reflexed, dark crimson- 
purple, covered with small papille. 
Column 4 inch long, narrowly winged, apex entire, white, the foot and inner surface bright crimson. 
i] aut species was first described in 1846 by Dr. Lindley, who quotes the field-note of 
Mons. Linden, its discoverer, as follows: “An epiphyte from the thick forests of 
Fusagasuga, in the province of Bogota, at the height of 7,200 feet.” 
Although discovered as long ago as 1842, M. cuculiata was not known in cultivation 
until 1883, when living plants were brought home by Mr. Carder, and first flowered 
in the collection of Mr. Shuttleworth. It has an extensive geographical distribution, 
having been found by numerous collectors in different Departments of the Republic of 
Colombia. Consul Lehmann, in the following note, gives several localities in which he 
has himself found the plant : 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a Plant at Newbattle Abbey : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—la, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side — 
2a, petal, side ;—3, lip ;—3a, base of lip, showing nectaries (much enlarged) ;—4, column 3—4a, apex of 
column ; all enlarged; 5, apex and section of leaf, natural size. 
