MASDEVALLIA RADIOSA Rehb. f 
MaspEVALLIA RADIOSA Rchb.f. Gard. Chron. 1877, pt. L, p. 684; 1881, pt. IL, p- 336 ; Veitch Manual 
Orch. pt. V. (1889), p. 59. 
Leaf 5 or 6 inches long and about } inch broad, oblong-lanceolate, margins waved, apex acutely 
tridenticulate, narrowing below into a slender petiole, sheathed at the base, bright green. 
Peduncle about 4 inches long, terete, lateral or descending from the base of the petiole, with 
numerous sheathing bracts, dull purplish-green, 2 or 3-flowered, the flowers expanding in succession ; 
flowering bract § inch long, ovate-oblong, apiculate, sheathing below, dull green. 
Ovary 4 inch long, with six rounded angles, pale green. 
Sepals all cohering for about 4 inch, forming a wide shallow cup, gibbous below, free portions 
broadly oval, concave, with numerous nerves, the central nerves carinate at the back, inner surface ochre- 
yellow, dotted and streaked with dark purple and covered with small purple papilla, outer surface smooth, 
tawny or apricot yellow, all terminating in slender tapering dark purple tails two inches long. 
Petals about 4%; inch long, oblong, angled at the margin, apex cleft into two wings, with numerous 
6 
dark purple papilla within the cleft, ochre-yellow, with one or two dark purple spots. 
Lip grooved and fleshy at the base and united to the foot of the column by a flexible hinge, dilated 
into a broad shell-like lobe, white tinged with pale pink, with numerous radiating keels within the shell. 
Column short and stout, very narrowly winged, pale pink below, green or pale yellow above, with a 
broad band of purple, apex denticulate. 
HE only known habitat of JZ. radiosa is near Frontino, in Antioquia, where it was 
discovered by Gustav Wallis in 1873, at an elevation of 8,000 feet. Living plants 
were sent by him to Messrs. Veitch, in whose collection Professor Reichenbach first 
saw the flowers in 1876. 
A small and less attractive variety, apparently commoner in cultivation, is repre- 
sented at Fig. 6 of the accompanying Plate. dV. radiosa is closely allied to M. bella, 
M. Chestertonii and M. nycterina, which it resembles in the wide and shell-like, rather 
than saccate, lip. 
Consul Lehmann adds the following information : 
M. radiosa is one of the rarest species known to me. In fact, I have only found it in one locality, 
viz., in the neighbourhood of Frontino, in Antioquia. It grows on trees, always on the trunks, not far 
from the ground, in very damp dense woods, at an elevation of 1,600 to 2,100 metres (5,200 to 6,835 feet). 
The annual mean temperature of this region ranges from 16° to 18°.5 Centigrade (about 60° to 70° 
Fahrenheit), and there is a heavy and constant rainfall throughout almost the whole year. Only in 
February, March, and August there is a short interval of finer weather, but even during these months 
there are but few days entirely without rain. In a wild state M4. radiosa flowers in October and 
November. 
Explanation of Plate, drawn from a plant at Newbattle Abbey : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, in natural position ;—1a, section of ovary ;—2, petal, inner side ;— 
2a, petal, side ;—8, lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; a// enlarged ; 5, apex and section of leaf ;— 
? ? ? 
6, flower of small variety ; natural size. 
