MASDEVALLIA MACULATA. 
Consul Lehmann gives much additional information as to the climate and localities 
in which MZ. maculata is found : 
The habitat of Masdevallia maculata is in Venezuela and Colombia, at an elevation of 
1,400 to 1,700 métres (4,550 to 5,525 feet). It flowers from August to December, and in 
cultivation at Popayan it is never without flowers. In Venezuela it grows in the colony 
of Tovar near Caracas, and in the mountainous parts of the Estado de Carabobo, a name 
given by the Spaniards to the tract of country between the Atlantic Ocean and the 
Lake of Valencia, bounded on the west and south-west by the State of Yaracuy and the 
Llanos de San Carlos and Calabozo. 
In Colombia it occurs, although very rarely, in the extensive highlands of Popayan, 
from the Rio Ovejas to the Rio Hondo, in woods of a remarkably open and park-like aspect. 
These woods consist chiefly of trees and shrubs of the following genera: Weinmannia, 
Clusia (Balsam-tree), Thibaudia, Bejaria, Gaultheria, Clethra, Myrtus (Myrtle), Psidium 
(Guava), Freziera, Cinchona, Inga (Soldier-wood), Ficus (Fig), Quercus (Oak), Anona 
(Custard-apple), Meriania (Jamaica-rose), Leandra, Miconia, etc. The trunks of the trees 
are covered with small lichens and a few mosses, and more rarely with ferns and 
Bromeliads. Orchids of the following genera are to be found in these woods: Plewrothallis, 
Stelis, Lepanthes, Restrepia, Comparettia, Burlingtonia, Epidendrum, Sobralia, and 
Livelyna ; with Oncidium obryzatum, O. panduratum and O. globuliferum ; Masdevallia 
auopupurea, M. maculata, M. Ephippiun, M. amanda, and a few others. 
The climate of this region is remarkable for dense fogs and heavy rains, with frequent 
and very violent thunder-storms. During the rainy season the nights are generally clear, 
but towards daybreak dense fogs gather, and lie close above the woods, resembling, if 
observed from the higher regions of the Cordilleras, immense loose masses of cotton wool. 
At about 8 o’clock these fogs begin to rise and to form large cumulus clouds, which, from 
2 o'clock p.m. condense and fall in heavy showers, accompanied by severe thunder-storms, 
lasting as a rule until night. The dry season in Venezuela is from J anuary to the end 
of March, and in Cauca from July to September. 
The annual mean temperature is between 18° and 19° Centigrade (about 64° to 66° 
Fahrenheit), and the extremes are 15° and 25° Centigrade (59° and 77° Fahrenheit). 
F. C. Leamann. 
