MASDEVALLIA XANTHINA RBchb. f. 
Masprvarira XANTHINA Rehb. f. Gard. Chron. 1880, pt. L, p. 681; 1881, pt. I, p. 720 (under M. 
Wageneriana Lindl.) ; pt. IL, p. 409 ; 1883, pt. L, p. 598 ; Veitch Manual Orch. pt. V. (1889) 
p. 42 (as M. Estrade var. zanthina). 
Var. pallida, var. nov. 
Leaf 2 or 3 inches long, and about 3 inch wide, oblong-oyate, carinate, apex sharply tridenticulate, 
dull green, narrowing below into a slender grooved petiole, sheathed at the base and stained with black. 
Peduncle nearly 3 inches long, slender, erect, terete, with one or two sheathing bracts, very pale 
green ; flowering bract 2 inch long, 3-nerved, sheathing below, apiculate, brown or blackish-green, with a 
minute rudimentary bud within at the base. 
Ovary about 4 inch long, curved, with six rounded angles, whitish-green, 
Sepals cohering only at the base, about # inch long ; dorsal sepal 5-nerved, obovate, cucullate, margin 
recurved at the base, brilliant yellow, the nerves greenish at the back, tapering into a slender tail 14 or 
14 inch long, orange at the apex, greenish at the hase ; lateral sepals oblong, 3-nerved, brilliant yellow, 
with a dark crimson blotch at the base of each, terminating in slender tails 1 inch or 14 inch long, orange 
at the apex, greenish at the base. 
Petals about } inch long, oblong, with an incurved keel on the anterior marcin, a ex tridentate 
8 3) 3) gin, ap ? 
ivory-white, semi-transparent. 
Lip about § inch long, oblong, fleshy and grooved at the base, and united to the curved foot of the 
column by a flexible hinge, margin recurved, semi-transparent, pale yellow minutely dotted with crimson, 
apex recurved, with a small cushion of extremely minute dark erimson papillee. 
Column equalling the petals, broadly winged, white, bordered with crimson and spotted with crimson 
on the wings, apex and foot, apex acutely tridentate. 
O record is published of the locality in which Masdevallia vanthina was first found, 
or of the name of its discoverer. The specimens described by Professor Reichen- 
bach in 1880 were supplied to him by Messrs. Veitch, who, however, were unable to give 
any information as to its origin. 
By some botanists JZ. xanthina is considered to be merely a variety of MW. Estrada, 
but Consul Lehmann, who has had ample opportunity of examining and comparing both 
plants in their native habitat, is strongly opposed to this theory, and declares them to be 
specifically distinct, M. wanthina being in itself a very variable species, ranging over a 
geographical area of at least six hundred miles from north to south. 
ee 
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 ;— 
3, lip ;—4, column ;—4a, apex of column ; all enlarged 3—95, apex and section of leaf ;—6, var. pallida, 
from a drawing by Consul Lehmann ;—7, ripe seed-capsule from a plant at Newbattle Abbey ; all 
natural size. 
