MASDEVALLIA CURTIPES Rodrig. 
MAspEvaLiia currirrs Rodrig. Gen. et Spec. Orch. Nov. II. (1881), p. 95. 
Leaf about 5 inches long, linear-lanceolate, narrowing below into a slender grooved petiole, dark 
green, apex tridenticulate. 
Peduncle, including pedicel, about 1} inch long, terete, ascending from the base of the petiole, dark 
green, bract 3 inch long, ovate, apiculate, membranous, sheathing below, brownish. 
Ovary % inch long, with six grooves, whitish-green. 
Sepals cohering, forming a narrow tube about } inch long, gibbous 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 
yellow. 
Petals linear, 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. 
ASDEVALLIA 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. 
M. curtipes is at present unknown in this country, the only Brazilian species in cultiva- 
tion being W. infracta, 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 : 
“ M. caule seceuandario trigono, brevi, multo minore folio ; folio lineari-lanceolato, basi 
attenuato, apice tridentato, antice canaliculato ; scapo caule secundario longitudine ; sepatis 
connatis cupuliformibus, superiore minore, breviter triangulato, longe-cristato, inferioribus 
majoribus et latioribus cum aristis valde productis; petalis carnosis, antice semi- 
canaliculatis, apice uncinatis; labello trilobato, lobulis lateralibus lamina a basi emarginata, 
erecta, apice sub-rotunda sub haee lamina est unguis et in apice lobo medio qui est 
linguiformi, granuloso in centrum, acuto et recurvo.” 
Explanation of Plate : 
Fig. 1, sepals detached and spread out, natural size ;—2, petal, inner side ;—3, lip, front view ;— 
4, lip, side view ;—5, column ; all enlarged. 
