Maspevatiia Epurprium. 
who is considered to be a most accurate and trustworthy observer and narrator. “This 
Masdevallia having been discovered by me, it may be interesting if I communicate some 
observations respecting it. In the year 1868 I first met with this plant, growing in the 
frosty heights of the Sonson district in New Grenada. The whole of the plants which 
I then remitted to Europe died, and I afterwards sent others in the year 1872, to Mons. 
Linden of Brussels. J. Trochilus suffers greatly from tropical heat, and from excess 
of heat generally. Only a. dozen out of 200 plants arrived in Europe the first time—I 
brought them under my personal care. The name ‘ Colibri,’ which is given to this plant 
in its native country, is simply an allusion to the fantastic bird-like appearance of the 
flower—though this allusion is rather far-fetched, as are so many of the allusions in use 
by the South Americans, especially the Indians. . . . . . . . The general size 
of the flower does not surpass that of a walnut. The winged sepals have a length of 
about 4 or 5 inches each. There is a peculiarity of the plant well worth mentioning, 
and that is its power of producing out of the same spathe several subsequent flowers. 
IT observed many plants in my stores that produced flowers out of the old stalks, which 
I had considered as being dead. It is possible, therefore, that this M/asdevallia in its 
native place has two flowering seasons each year. The strong and compactly-formed 
root-balls get sometimes to a considerable size and weight. The plant, being once 
established, must possess an extraordinary vital power. The flower-stalks are ex- 
ceedingly strong, and have in section a well-marked triangular outline; the leaves are 
of a bright green colour, short and strong, and of an unusual thickness—the term 
coriaceous will not suffice for them. JZ. Trochilus has the happy faculty of growing 
and doing well under any conditions. It grows quite as well in a loose compost as on 
the bark of trees, or on decomposed pieces of trunk, and even in a common heavy soil. 
The amateur Orchid-grower will also appreciate its habit of growing in highly elevated 
regions, as cold as any Masdevallia can exist in, not even excepting M. elephanticeps.” 
The long interval which elapsed between the discovery of Masdevallia Ephippium 
in 1868 and the publication of the first description in 1873, can only be accounted for 
by the fact that the whole of Wallis’s first importation of plants perished, and that, 
apparently, he sent home no dried specimens of the flower. The species appears to 
have been known to Mons. Linden and others as MW. Trochilus for some time previous 
to the publication of Professor Reichenbach’s description under the name of Ephippiun 
in 1873; although no description of the plant under the name of Trochilus was 
published until 1874. 
I am informed by Consul Lehmann that the plant found by Dr. Krause at Loja 
(formerly Loxa) was the small-flowered variety acrochordonia, named and described by 
Professor Reichenbach as a distinct species. Consul Lehmann, however, considers this 
plant to be merely a local variety peculiar to the eastern slopes of the Andes, the type, 
M. Ephippium, being found upon the western slopes. A careful examination of the 
two plants reveals only very slight differences between them, the flowers of acrochordonia 
being always smaller and sometimes less globular than those of 1. Ephippium, and 
having the lip and petals slightly narrower and more pointed. The remarkable wart- 
like processes along the inner surface of the nerves of the lateral sepals are equally 
present in both plants, although entirely overlooked by Professor Reichenbach in his 
description of MZ. Ephippium. 
Consul Lehmann gives the localities in which he has found the two plants in the 
following note : 
Masdevallia Ephippium Rebb. f. (Trochilus Lind.) has the largest geographical 
distribution of any Masdevallia known to me. It was first discovered by Wallis in the 
State of Antioquia in Colombia, where it grows at various places at an elevation of 
1,800 to 2,200 métres above the sea (5,850 to 7,150 feet), and in huge but not very dense 
woods, high on trees. From Antioquia the first specimens were introduced into Europe. 
In 1877 it was observed by myself all along the western slopes of the Central Andes of 
