MASDEVALLIA SIMULA Rchb. f. 
MAspEvatr1a stwuta Rchb. f, Gard. Chron. 1875, pt. I., p. 8; 1881, pt. IL, p. 409. 
Leaf 1 to 24 inches long, and 4 inch broad, linear, fleshy, curved, tridenticulate, dull green tinged 
with purple and covered with minute excrescences, narrowing below into a slender petiole, dark green, 
sheathed at the base. 
Peduncle about # inch long, terete, 2 or 3-flowered, each flower fading before the expansion of the 
next, ascending from near the base of the petiole, with minute apiculate bracts. 
Ovary 7; inch long, triangular, with six grooves. 
Sepals: dorsal sepal united to the lateral sepals very little beyond the base, about } inch long, 
strongly keeled without, 3-nerved, cucullate, ovate-lanceolate, terminating ina blunt point, semi-transparent, 
greenish, barred with small transverse crimson spots ; lateral sepals cohering for nearly 4 inch, gibbous 
below, with a dark crimson excrescence within beneath the lip, 3-nerved, ovate-lanceolate, terminating in 
narrow points, yellowish green, with small transverse crimson spots. 
Petals scarcely 4 inch long, and about half as broad, triangular at the apex, strongly angled on the 
anterior margin, green and crimson. 
Lip rather more than 4 inch long, linear at the base, then with two prominent angular lobes, anterior 
portion cordate, with two horn-like projections, margin minutely crenate, apex much reflexed, dark 
crimson-purple. 
Column ¢ inch long, with triangular wings, apex minutely denticulate, green edged and spotted with 
crimson. 
MASPEVALLIA SIMULA was discovered in 1874, by Chesterton, while collecting 
in Colombia for Messrs. Veitch. Its small size and the inconspicuous colour of 
its flowers, growing half hidden in moss at the base of the leaves, make it of little interest 
except to botanists, but the curious and unusual structure of the petals and lip will be 
found to repay careful examination. In cultivation the time of flowering is from April 
to July, during which time several flowers appear in succession from the same stem. 
The exact localities in which this little plant is to be found have not hitherto been made 
generally known, and are given as follows by Consul Lehmann: 
This peculiar and very variable species, in my opinion more a Pleurothallis than a 
Masdevailia, has an extensive distribution over the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. 
In the north it extends as far as the northern parts of Antioquia, growing abundantly 
on the highlands of Santa Rosa and Carolina, at an elevation of 2,000—2,600 métres 
(6,500—8,450 feet). In the south it has been met with as far as the central and eastern 
districts of the province of Azuay or Cuenca, at the same elevation as in Antioquia. In 
the vicinity of Popayan it grows abundantly at an elevation of 1,800 métres (5,850 feet), 
while on the Alto del Mojanda, between Otabalo and Malchingui, it is equally common 
at 3,000 metres (9,750 feet). It occurs on the western declivities of the central and 
Western Andes, especially on those of the Andes of Quito, and extends from 7° N. lat. to 
3° 8. lat. The temperature in which this plant thrives varies greatly according to the 
elevation of the locality, the lowest being 9° and the highest 17°-5 Centigrade (48° to 
63° Fahrenheit). 
