MASDEVALLIA MARGINELLA Rchb. f. 
Masprvanii1a MaRGINELLA Rehb. f. Gard. Chron. 1883, pt. II, p. 38; Orchidophile (Godefroy) 
1883, p. 695. 
M. Costaricensis Rolte, Gard. Chron. 1890, pt. IL, p. 183. 
Leaf about 4 inches long, obovate-spathulate, tridenticulate, narrowing below into a slender grooved 
petiole, sheathed at the base, bright green. 
Peduncle 3 or 4 inches long, terete, slender, attenuate below, 1 or 2-flowered, ascending from the 
hase of the petiole, with one or two sheathing bracts, pale green; flowering bracts about 4 inch long, 
oblong-ovate, membranous, apiculate, sheathing below, dull brownish-green. 
Ovary 4 inch long, with six rounded angles, shining green. 
Sepals: dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for } inch, forming a narrow compressed tube, 
gibbous below, free portion very small, triangular, 3-nerved, whitish, tapering into a slender terete tail 
about 1} inch long, green at the base and back, brilliant orange-scarlet in the front; lateral sepals 
cohering for nearly } inch, broadly ovate-triangular, 3-nerved, all the central nerves carinate on the outer 
surface, whitish, with a short central streak of pale yellow, and terminating in slender terete tails about 
14 inch long, pale green at the base, front orange-yellow, nerves green. 
Petals + inch long, oblong-ovate, thickened on the anterior margin, with a small rounded projection 
on the opposite side, white. 
Lip a little longer than the petals, wide at the base and united by a hinge to the curved foot of the 
column, margins recurved, with two angled longitudinal keels near the centre, white, apex much recurved, 
pink and yellow, margins dentate. 
Column equalling the petals, winged, apex acutely denticulate, white, foot pale yellow. 
WV ASDEVALLIA MARGINELLA was imported by Messrs. Sander, of St. Albans, 
about the year 1882, from the Mountains of Costa Rica. It grows with M. 
Reichenbachiana and M. calura, to both of which plants it is closely allied. In 1890 it 
was again described, as a new species, by Mr. R. A. Rolfe, of the Royal Herbarium, 
Kew, under the name JZ. Costaricensis, from specimens in the collection of Mr. Sydney 
Courtauld. 
In separating JZ. marginella trom the Coriacec, with which Reichenbach classed it, 
I am not differing altogether from his opinion, for, in his account of WM. Reichenbachiana, 
Gard. Chron. 1875, pt. II., p. 257, he says of that species: “This interesting Masdevallia 
one might introduce as belonging to the Coriace group, provided one does not think 
it better to make of it a new group, on account of its funnel-shaped tube, narrowed at 
the base, very slender tails, and thin texture.” 
There can be no doubt of the affinity between WZ. marginella and M. Reichenbachiana, 
and they must therefore be classed together, with others also closely allied, such as 
M. calura, M. Rolfeana, &e. Several of the species included in this group were not 
introduced until after Reichenbach’s death, in 1889, and had he known them all he 
would probably have classed them in a: new Section. His words, quoted above, well 
describe the differences between flowers of this Section and those of the Coriacew. 
The leaves differ chiefly in being more slender in the petiole, less rigid, and wider 
in proportion to their length. These characteristics will be well seen by comparing 
the leaves of M. leontoglossa with those of M. marginella. 
Explanation of Plate : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—la, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ; 
3, lip ;—a, apex of lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; all enlarged ;—5, apex and section of leaf, 
? 
natural size. 
