MASDEVALLIA VENTRICULARIA Rchb. f. 
MASDEVALLIA VENTRICULARIA Rchb.f. Otia Bot. Hamb. (1878), p. 14. 
Leaf 5 or 6 inches long, oblong-lanceolate, apex tridenticulate, narrowing below into a slender grooved 
petiole, sheathed at the base, bright green. 
Pedunele 2 or 3 inches long, terete, slender, with two sheathing bracts, bright green, ascending from 
within the sheath at the base of the petiole; flowering bract 2 inch long, membranous, apiculate, sheathing 
below, brownish. 
Ovary 4 inch long, with six grooves, green shaded with brown. 
Sepals cohering for about 25 inches, forming a narrow inflated tube, yellow at the base, free portions 
triangular-ovate for 3 inch, the dorsal one cucullate, the lateral ones angled at their junction, all rich 
brownish-crimson, with numerous darker streaks, and terminating in slender yellow tails 1 to 3 inches long. 
? 9 co) y 
Petals oblong, curved, apiculate, angled on the anterior margin, white, with a few crimson spots. 
Lip oblong-ovate, with two longitudinal keels, and united to the foot of the column by a hinge, dull 
purple. 
Column a little shorter than the petals, erect, apex denticulate, white. 
LTHOUGH WM. ventricularia was discovered by Dr. Jameson, during his travels in 
Ecuador, it was not from his specimens that Reichenbach named and described 
the plant. In 1877 it was found again by Consul Lehmann, on the western slopes of the 
mountains of Calacali, near Quito, and he informs me that it was upon the small short- 
tailed form, fig. 5 of the accompanying Plate, that Reichenbach bestowed the name, and 
from which he wrote his description. It has never been in cultivation, and is, even in 
its native habitat, a rare species, confined to small areas in only a few localities. Several 
varieties exist, the extremes of which are well shown in the graceful drawing supplied - 
for the present work by Consul Lehmann, who has had unusual opportunities of observ- 
ing the plant. He first found it at Anque near Quito, represented by the short-tailed 
variety (fig. 5), and again on the western slopes of the Cerro del Corazén between the 
Puente de Yamboya and Milligallé. The long-tailed variety was found by him at the 
Farallones de Cali in the Province of Cauca, and other slightly differing forms exist at 
Frontino in Antioquia and on the Alto de Loaiza, Cauca. It grows most frequently 
upon the thin liana-like branches of Psammisia, Hurygania, and other Vacciniaceous 
shrubs, and sometimes also quite near the ground on the trunks of decaying trees in 
damp shady forests, at an elevation of 1,800 to 2,200 métres (5,850 to 7,160 feet) above 
sea-level. 
Explanation of Plate, from a drawing by Consul Lehmann : 
Fig. 1, petal, lip, and column, natural size ;—2, lip ;—2a, back of lip ;—3, petal, inner side ;—3a, 
petal, outer side ;—4, petal and column, much enlarged ;—5, type of the flower first named by 
Reichenbach. 
