MasprvatiiaA ScHLIm™n. 
honour of its dicoverer, his fellow-traveller and half-brother. Tt has Saab suena 
found in various localities of the Eastern Cordilleras of Colombia, and the first living 
plants were imported by Messrs. Sander, of St. Albans, in 1883. 
Varieties of JZ. Schlimii have from time to time been found, and have in some 
instances received specific names. The variation seems to be chiefly in size and in the 
depth of colouring of the flowers, and may possibly be accounted for by the great differ- 
ence of elevation and climate, and the more or less exposed situations in which the 
plants grow, a difference quite sufticient—especially in the case of the variety polyantha— 
to cause even greater variation than has yet been met with. 
The best-known variety, polyantha, which has smaller and more compactly arranged 
flowers, was found by Schlim at Ocafia, in Colombia, about the same date as JZ. Schlimii, 
and was described by Dr. Lindley as a distinct species. The locality is given in the 
field-note of the collector, as follows: “An epiphyte at the entrance of the Paramo of 
Portachuela, in the Province of Merida, at the height of 11,500 feet, between Bailadores 
and La Grita ; June to September.” The mean temperature of this elevated region is 
46° Fahrenheit. 
The plant figured in the Botanical Magazine, t.6740, as JZ. Schlimii, is now considered 
to be the variety polyantha. This specimen, taken from the collection of Sir Trevor 
Lawrence, is preserved in the Royal Herbarium at Kew. The leaves are more rounded 
than those of AZ. Schlimii, and the flowers are smaller and less closely spotted, with the 
margins of the lateral sepals much reflexed. 
Another probable variety, named as a distinct species MZ. Sceptrum by Professor 
Reichenbach, was collected by Schlim at La Baja and Pamplona, at an elevation of 
8—9,000 feet, flowering in January. It appears to differ from JZ. Schiimii only in having 
smaller and darker flowers. In Professor Reichenbach’s description both of M. Sceptrum 
and MW. polyantha (Bonplandia IT. p. 283), he mentions that the stem is angled or winged, 
a character not noticed by Dr. Lindley in his original description of JZ. polyantha. No 
plant under the name of MZ. Sceptrum has ever been in cultivation, although dried 
specimens have occasionally been sent home under this name by various collectors. To 
the courtesy of Mr. F. Sander, of St. Albans, I am indebted for an opportunity of ex- 
amining one of these specimens, found at Ocafia in 1886, of which the chief characteristics 
agree in all respects with those of JZ. Schlimii, the tails being perhaps a little thicker, 
flatter and shorter. 
Consul Lehmann sends the following note : 
The habitat of I. Schlimii is in Colombia and Venezuela, at an elevation of 1,800 to 
2,500 métres (5,850 to 8,125 feet). The region over which this species is distributed 
begins on the western slopes of the Eastern Cordilleras of Colombia near Sogamoso, 
continuing northward as far as the bifurcation of the Cordillera at the Paramo de San- 
turban, and from thence north-eastward as far as Merida in Venezuela. In its habit of 
growth it greatly resembles Masdevallia Ephippium, growing abundantly on trees 
in damp, but open and park-like woods, and limited to small localities, large districts 
intervening without a trace of the plant to be seen. 
The mean temperature of this region is between 14° and 17° Centigrade (about 57° 
to 63° Fahrenheit), 
A much greater elevation is assigned by some authorities to Masdevallia Schlimii— 
as much as 11,000 feet—but I must remark that this altitude is not attained by the true 
M. Schlimii, nor by any allied species or variety with which I am acquainted, with the 
exception of Sceptrum, polyantha, and M. Ephippium var. acrochordonia. None attains 
a greater elevation than 2,500 métres (8,125 feet), and most of them are found at 800 to 
1,700 metres (2,600 to 5,525 feet). The elevation of 11,000 feet is reached in Colombia 
by very few species of Masdevallia, and those chiefly of the sections Ooriacew (Rchb. f.) 
and Cucullate (Rehb. f.). { 
F. ©. Lrpmann. 
