MASDEVALLIA CHIMAtIRA Rchb. f. var. BACKHOUSIANA. 
Masprvariia Camera var. Backhouseana Veitch Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889) p. 30. 
M. Backhousiana Rehb. f. Gard. Chron. 1879, pt. L, p. 716; pt. IL, p. 114; 1881, pt. IL, 
p. 236; Garden 1879, pt. L, pp. 442 and 455 ; Orchidophile (Godefroy) vol. I. (1881-3), p. 84 ; 
Reichenbachia vol. I. (1888), p. 43, t. 19. 
i) plat handsome variety of J. Chimera was discovered in 1871, near Frontino in 
Antioquia, by Butler, a collector for Messrs. Backhouse of York, and it has also 
been found further south, on the Western Andes of Popayan. It was provisionally 
named by Professor Reichenbach as a distinct species, with the remark that if 
“connecting links” should appear between this and other forms of MZ. Chimera, the 
plant must be regarded as merely a variety. Connecting links have indeed appeared in 
the shape of numerous forms and varieties of this most variable plant subsequently 
imported from many localities in the Western Cordilleras of Colombia. 
The leaves of var. Backhousiana closely resemble those of MZ. Chimera, but are rather 
narrower and less plicate. The sepals are usually rounder, paler, and less closely spotted, 
and the tails are comparatively short, the stems also being short and never erect. The 
rays within the lip—which, in this variety, is almost white—also show slight differences, 
but this characteristic does not appear to be constant, even in flowers from the same 
plant, and is not therefore of much value in distinguishing one variety from another. 
T am informed by Consul Lehmann that the plant here figured is found at Bramadora 
and Bricenio, in Antioquia, and that it is often much paler in colour. 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a plant at Newbattle Abbey : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—la, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ;— 
2a, side of petal ;—3, lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; all enlarged ;—5, apex and section of leaf, 
natural size. 
