MASDEVALLIA TOVARENSIS Rchb. f. 
Masprvanria Ttovarensis Rehb. f. Linnea XXII (1849), p. 818 ; Walp. Amn. IIT. (1852), p. 523; VI. 
(1861), p. 192; Bonplandia III. (1855), p. 225; Bot. Mag. t. 5505 (1865) ; Gard. Chron. 1865, 
p- 914, fig. B; 1871, p. 1421, fig. 310, B, and p. 1486 ; 1874, pt. IL, p. 715; 1881, pt. IL, p. 409, 
fig. B; Fl. and Pomol. 1873, p. 169, fig. 5; Belg. Hort. XXIII. (1873), p. 360; Ilustr. Hort. 
XXVI. (1879), p. 169, t. 8363 ; De Puydt, Les Orch. (1880), p. 287, pl. XXIV. 
M. candida Klotzsch et Karst. Bonplandia IH. (1854), p. 23; Walp. Ann. VI. (1861), p. 192; Gard. Chron. 
1871, p. 1421; Belg. Hort. XXIII. (1873), p. 355. 
Leaf about 6 inches long, oblong-ovate, tridenticulate, narrowing below into a grooved petiole sheathed 
at the base, dark green. 
Peduncle 5 or 6 inches long, sharply angled, angles two to five, many-flowered, ascending from within 
a sheath at the base of the petiole, bright green; bracts about 4 inch long, sheathing, apiculate, bright 
green. 
Ovary nearly + inch long, with three acute angles, bright pale green. : 
Sepals: dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for about } inch, forming a narrow tube, free portion 
triangular, 3-nerved, tapering into a slender tail about 1} inch long ; lateral sepals cohering for nearly 1 
inch, free portions broadly oval, 3-nerved, terminating in slender tails about % inch long ; all pure white, 
with pale yellowish-green tails. 
Petals 4 inch long, linear, apiculate, angled on the anterior margin, white. 
Lip about } inch long, slightly grooved at the hase, united to the foot of the column by a flexible 
hinge, pandurate, with two longitudinal keels, apex reflexed, white. 
ge, } ’ g 0 ’ 
Column scarcely } inch long, narrowly winged, apex denticulate, white, tinged and winged with 
purple-crimson. 
i Pues species was discovered in 1842 by Linden, at an elevation of 2,000 métres (6,500 
feet), near Tovar, a small German colony in Venezuela, and named—in manuscript 
only—Masdevallia candida. The first botanical description of the plant was published 
under the name of VW. tovarensis by Professor Reichenbach in 1849, from dried speci- 
mens collected in 1846 by Moritz in the same habitat. Several years afterwards, living 
plants under the name of MZ. candida were sent to Germany by Wagener, who collected 
them near Caracas at an elevation of 6,000 feet. One of these plants, sold to the late 
Mr. Sigismund Riicker, flowered in 1864 for the first time in England in his collection at 
West Hill, Wandsworth, and was identified with Professor Reichenbach’s MZ. tovarensis. 
A hybrid has been raised from JZ. tovarensis and M. ignea in the collection of 
Captain Hincks, of Breckenbrough, Yorkshire, and named in his honour by Professor 
Reichenbach M. Hincksiana (Gard. Chron, 1887, pt. II., p. 214). The flowers are more 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a Plant at Newhattle Abbey : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—la, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ;— 
3, lip ;—8a, lip from another specimen ;—4, column; all enlarged ;—4a, apex of column (much enlarged); 
—5, apex and section of leaf, natural size. 
