MASDEVALLIA AUROPURPUREA Rehb. fe 
MASDEVALLIA AUROPURPUREA Rchb. f. Bonplandia II. (1854), p. 115 (nomen tantum) and p. 288 ; IIL. 
(1855), p. 69; Walp. Ann. VI. (1861), p. 192 ; Otia Bot. Hamb, p- 17 (1878). 
Leaf about 5 inches long, oblong-lanceolate, carinate, apex tridenticulate, bright green, narrowing 
below into a slender grooved petiole, sheathed at the base. 
Pedunele a little longer than the leaves, triquetrous, erect, 2-flowered, each flower with a sheathing 
apiculate membranous bract concealing the base of the ovary, bright green. 
Ovary nearly 4 inch long, curved, with three rounded angles and three acute wings, pale green. 
Sepals : dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for about 4 inch, forming a narrow tube, gibbous 
2 fe g 
helow, free portion triangular, 3-nerved, tapering into a slender tail 1 inch long, bright yellow, faintly 
tinged with chestnut brown ; lateral sepals cohering for nearly ? inch, free portion ovate-triangular, 
3-nerved, terminating in slender tails about 4 inch long, bright yellow, tinged with chestnut-brown and 
veined with green, the inner surface dark rich brown, and covered with minute papille, the tails yellow 
and green. 
Petals } inch long, oblong, apiculate, with a keel on the anterior margin, white. 
Lip a little longer than the petals, united to the curved foot of the column by a flexible hinge, 
oblong-cordate, lobed at the margin, with two longitudinal angled keels, dull purplish-crimson, with 
darker spots, the apex reflexed and covered with dark crimson papille. 
Column shorter than the petals, narrowly winged, white and pale purplish-crimson, apex denticulate. 
HE first plants of Masdevallia auropurpurea were collected by Warscewiez in 1853, 
at Aspasica and Enllanade, near Ocafia, in the Province of Santander, Colombia, 
at an elevation of 5,000 feet, and for nearly forty years the species was only known from 
Reichenbach’s description of these dried specimens. In 1894 a plant was purchased 
from Mr. Sander, of St. Albans, by Mr. F. W. Moore, through whose kindness in sending 
me fresh flowers I am enabled to publish a drawing of the first plant ever seen in 
cultivation. 
The name atrorubra is an unpublished name of Reichenbach’s for a dark variety of 
this species, and the name atropurpurea is merely a misprint in the index of Walper’s 
Annales for the word auropurpurea. 
Our knowledge of the geographical distribution of this species is considerably 
extended by Mr. Sander’s remark to Mr. Moore that his plant undoubtedly came from 
Peru—about one thousand miles south of Ocafia, where it was originally found, and two 
or three hundred miles south of the limit given by Consul Lehmann in the following 
note : 
Masdevallia auropurpurea is widely distributed from the north of Colombia southwards into central 
Keuador, and is an abundant but extremely local species. It grows upon trees in open woods at an 
elevation of 1,200 to 1,800 métres (3,900 to 5,850 feet), and in only one locality in Ecuador I have seen 
it growing upon rocks. I have found it on the banks of the Rio Pastaza, on the way from Bajfios on the 
Vulcan Tunguragua, to Canalos, in Ecuador. In the south of Colombia it is very common all over the 
highlands of Popaydn. On the western slopes of the Central Andes, above Palmira, it grows with 
M. Ephippium, and from thence northwards it occurs in an uninterrupted line as far as Pacord and 
Aguadas, in Antioquia, being especially plentiful around Neira and Aranzasu. Along the eastern slopes 
of the Western Andes it is to be found in several localities, extending as far north as Frontino and 
Buritic’. It grows in the greatest abundance on the Cordillera de Ben Alcazar, between the towns of 
Cartago and Caramanta. On the eastern declivities of the Central Andes, which slope towards the basin 
of the Rio Magdalena, I have seen it in one locality only, in the mountains between Pensilvania and La 
Victoria. 
The mean temperature of the habitat of M. auropurpurea ranges between 18° and 20° Centigrade 
(about 64° to 68° Fahrenheit). The weather during January, February, and March, and again from July 
to September, is very dry ; while the rainfall during the rest of the year is extremely heavy. 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a plant at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—la, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ;— 
3, lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; all enlarged. 
