MASDEVALLIA HOUTTEANA Rchb. f. 
Masprvariia Hovurrnana Rehb. f. Gard. Chron. 1874, pt. II., p. 98 (July); 1881, pt. IL, p. 305; 
Flore des Serres vol. XX. (1874), p. 87, t. 2106; Veitch Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889), p. 45. 
M. Benedicti Rehb. f. Xen. Oreh. I. (1874), p. 197, t. 186, figs. IIT. and IV, (December) ; Linnxa 
XLI. (1877), p. 9; Gard. Chron. 1881, pt. II., p. 236. 
M. psittacina Rehb. t. Gard. Chron. 1876, pt. I., p. 817 ; 1881, pt. IL., p. 336. 
Leaf 6 or 8 inches long and about » inch wide, linear, carinate at the back, apex tridenticulate, bright 
green, the petiole very little narrower than the blade, pale green, sheathed at the base. 
Peduncele, including pedicel, 4 or 5 inches long, terete, slender, descending or lateral from the base of 
the petiole, with numerous short apiculate sheathing bracts, dull green marked with dark purple ; 
flowering bract about 4 inch long, ovate, apiculate, sheathing below, with a minute bud within at the base, 
greenish. 
Ovary about 3 inch long, with six rounded angles, dull crimson. 
Sepals: dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for about 4 inch, forming a wide tube, free portion 
about $ inch long, ovate-triangular, 5-nerved ; lateral sepals cohering for nearly 1 inch, free portions 
roundly triangular ; all cream-colour tinged with yellow, with numerous small crimson spots and short 
thick hairs or papilla, and terminating in dull crimson tails about 13 or 2 inches long. 
Petals about § inch long, oblong, angled on the margin, whitish, with crimson spots on the inner 
surface, apex bilobed, with a mass of minute papilla between the lobes, outer lobe yellow, inner white. 
Lip about 3 inch long, curved and fleshy at’ the base, with a deep oval hollow in the centre, united to 
the foot of the column by a flexible hinge, rounded, shell-like, with a prominent central keel and several 
smaller radiating keels, sometimes bifurcating near the margin, pale shell-pink. 
Column about 4 inch long, white at the base, apex yellow, minutely denticulate or entire. 
hy [SSE alle HOUTTEANA was discovered by Roezl near Frontino in the 
Western Cordilleras of Antioquia, at an elevation of 8,000 feet, and his dried 
specimens were named by Professor Reichenbach in 1874. Like most of its allies, 
M. Houtteana is a variable species, and local varieties subsequently found by Roezl and 
other collectors, received from Reichenbach the specific names of Benedicti and psittacina. 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a plant at Newhattle Abbey : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—1a, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ;— 
3, lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; al/ enlarged ;—5, apex and section of leaf, 
2a, petal, side ; 
natural size. 
