MASDEVALLIA NYCTERINA Rechb. f. 
Masprvarnia Nycrertna Rehb. f. Gard. Chron. 1873, p. 1238 ; 1874, pt. L., p. 639, fig. 134; pt. IL., 
p. 715; 1875, pt.1., pp. 40 and 106 ; 1881, pt. IL, pp. 336 and 337, fig. 64; Tlustr. Hort. 
1873, p. 25, t. 117-118 (as M. Chimera); Floral Mag. 1875, t. 150; De Puydt, Les Orch. 
(1880), p. 285, pl. XXIII. (as M. Chimera) ; Veitch Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889), p. 55. 
Leaf 6 or 7 inches long, oblong-lanceolate, carinate at the back, margins waved, apex acutely 
tridenticulate, narrowing below in a slender grooved petiole, sheathed at the base, bright green. 
Peduncle 3 or 4 inches long, terete, slender, lateral or descending from the base of the petiole, 
jointed, with a sheathing bract at each joint, dull reddish-green ; flowering bract nearly 4 inch long, 
apiculate, sheathing below, pale green, with one or two buds within at the base. 
Ovary about 4 inch long, with six crenate wings, crimson and green. 
Sepals : dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for nearly 4 inch, free portion triangular-ovate for 
ya ’ 8 
1} inch ; lateral sepals cohering for about 3 inch, triangular ovate, rounded beneath ; all pale yellow, 
covered with crimson spots and short stiff hairs, the inner half of the lateral sepals nearly white, all with 
numerous nerves, the principal nerves carinate upon the outer surface, tapering into slender terete crimson 
tails about 2 inches long. 
Petals about } inch long, oblong below, margins angled, apex bi-lobed, the outer lobe large and 
rounded, with numerous small papill in the centre, pale yellow spotted with rust-red. 
Lip scarcely } inch long, fleshy and deeply grooved at the base, and united to the foot of the column 
wv 2 3? J Cf te) ? 
by a very flexible hinge, anterior portion shell-like, spreading, margins converging, pure white tinged 
M/ > Se I ? 8; s 51ns, s 
with pale yellow, with numerous radiating keels within. 
Column shorter than the petals, narrowly winged, apex denticulate, pale yellow tinged with red. 
JM ASPEVALLIA NYCTERINA was discovered in 1872, by Gustav Wallis, near 
Frontino, in the Western Cordillera of Antioquia, at an elevation of 5-6,000 feet. 
This region is also the habitat of VW. Chimera, M. Carderi, and M. bella, as well as of 
many other species of Masdevallia. M. nycterina is closely allied to M. bella, which it 
especially resembles in the rayed, shell-like lip, but it was at first mistaken for M. 
Chimera by Mons. Linden, who named and distributed Wallis’s specimens as that 
species. The coloured Plates published as M. nycterinad more nearly resemble 
M. Vespertitio, showing in each case the unrayed lip peculiar to that plant. 
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, petal, side ;—8, lip ;—4, column ;—4da, apex of column ; all enlarged. 
