MASDEVALLIA ESTRADA Rchb. f. 
Masprvari1a Esrrapm Rehb. f. Gard. Chron. 1874, pt. I., p. 435; 1881, pt. IL, p. 236; Bot. Mag. 
t. 6171 (1875) ; Gartenflora (Regel) 1875, p. 374; Belg. Hort. 1875, pl. XXI.; Orchidophile 
(Godefroy) vol. I. (1881), p. 345 with fig.; Veitch Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889), p. 42. 
Var. ludibunda=Masdevallia ludibunda Rehb. ¢. Gard. Chron. 1882, pt. I., p. 179; Orehidophile 
(Godefroy) vol. I. (1881-3), p. 270 ; Veitch Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889), p. 50. 
Leaf 2 or 3 inches long, obovate, apex tridenticulate, bright green, narrowing below into a slender 
grooved petiole, sheathed at the base. 
Pedunele, including pedicel, 3 or 4 inches long, terete, slender, with two brownish sheathing bracts, 
ascending from a joint near the base of the petiole, sometimes two or three from the same petiole, pale 
green ; flowering bract nearly } inch long, oblong-ovate, acuminate, sheathing below, with a minute 
rudimentary bud within at the base, brownish-green. 
Ovary about 3 inch long, with six rounded angles, whitish. 
Sepals cohering for nearly } inch, forming an open shallow tube, dorsal sepal obovate, cucullate, 
5-nerved, rich magenta-crimson, with yellow at the base and margins ; lateral sepals oblong for about 
8 inch, 3-nerved, whitish, with rich magenta-crimson at the base ; all terminating in slender orange-yellow 
tails, 15 inch long. 
Petals about 4 inch long, linear-oblong, apiculate, with a strong keel on the anterior margin, inner 
surface viscid beneath the keel, which terminates in a curved auricle, whitish. 
Lip nearly 4 inch long, oblong-ovate, fleshy and grooved at the base, united to the curved foot of the 
column by a very flexible hinge, pale pink, with numerous small crimson spots, apex a velvety dark 
crimson boss. 
Column about 4 inch long, broadly winged, white, with magenta foot, apex dentate, dark crimson, 
wings edged and spotted with crimson. 
fps first flowers of Masdevallia Estrade seen in England were from plants in the 
possession of Mr. Williams, of Holloway, who obtained them in 1873 from Antio- 
quia, through a Belgian collector named Patin. Dried specimens had been previously 
sent to Professor Reichenbach by Gustav Wallis, from the garden of Sefiora Estrada, a 
Spanish lady resident in New Granada. Wallis, however, supplied no information as to 
the habitat of the plant. 
In 1882 a very closely allied plant was imported by Messrs. Sander, of St. Albans, 
and named M. ludibunda by Professor Reichenbach as a distinct species. Careful com- 
parison of both plants has, however, convinced me that M. ludibunda can only be con- 
sidered a variety of MW. Estradw. The flowers of the variety are rather larger and the 
colours paler than in those of the type, the chief differences being that the dorsal sepal 
of the variety is less erect and more concave, and the wings of the column straighter and 
narrower. 
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 i 
to} *) I ? Ps ? ’ ? d ’ ? 
3, lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; al// enlarged ;—5, apex and section of leaf, natural size. 
? p ’ ? +) ? , 5 , o] ? 
