MASDEVALLIA PUSILLA Rolfe. 
Masprvaiiia pustiia, Rolfe in Kew Bulletin, 1893, p. 335. 
Leaf nearly 4 inches long, linear-lanceolate, recurved, carinate at the back, apex acutely tridenti- 
culate, narrowing below into a grooved petiole, sheathed at the base, bright green. 
Pedunele about 24 inches long, terete, slender, descending or lateral from the base of the petiole, 
jointed, with a small closely sheathing bract at each joint, dull reddish-green ; flowering bract + inch 
long, apiculate, sheathing below, membranous, pale green. 
Ovary scarcely 4 inch long, with six rounded angles, dull crimson. 
Sepals: dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals for ,%; inch, forming a narrow cup, free portions 
ovate-triangular for about 4 inch, 5-nerved, the central nerve carinate ; lateral sepals cohering for nearly 
% inch, rounded below, oblong-ovate ; all the sepals dull yellowish-white spotted with crimson, 
especially upon the nerves, covered on the inner surface with minute elongated papilla, and terminating 
in slender terete yellow tails, about § inch long. 
Petals very minute, oblong, with small angles upon the margins, apex bi-lobed and rounded, with 
minute papille between the lobes, pale yellow spotted with rust-red. 
Lip about twice as long as the petals, basal portion large and fleshy, united to the foot of the column 
by a flexible hinge, deeply hollowed in the centre, the anterior portion shell-like, with three central keels, 
very minute, pale yellow, with pink spots. 
Column a little longer than the petals, apex denticulate, with two points much prolonged, pale yellow. 
HE habitat of Masdevallia pusilla is unknown, and the only information to be 
obtained about it is, that it first flowered in the collection of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens at Dublin, in 1891, and was sent by Mr. F. W. Moore to Kew, where it was 
named and described by Mr. R. A. Rolfe. It is chiefly interesting as the smallest known 
species of the Saccolabiate, the tiny lip, petals, and other organs, showing in miniature 
all the curious structural peculiarites of its larger allies. 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a plant in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—la, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ;— 
2a, petal, side ;—3, lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; all enlarged ;—5, apex and section of leaf, 
natural size. 
