32 ?.[ASnEVALT.IA 



This grotesque and striking Masdevallia was discovered in 1871 

 by M. Roezl at Clioco, on the Western Cordillera of New Granada,* 

 but he failed to send living plants to Europe at the time. It 

 was, however, introduced shortly afterwards by M. Linden, through 

 Gustav Wallis, who had detected it at Frontiuo, near Antioquia, 

 mixed with Masdevallia nycterhia, as the two were sent to M. 

 Linden together, and both were distributed in the first instance 

 under the name of M. Ghimcera.] The form introduced through 

 Wallis was afterwards found to differ somewhat from lloezl's 

 discovery, and subsequently received the name of M. WaJli>iii, a 

 circumstance which led to much confusion in the nomenclature and 

 identification of both these and other forms.;]: The variety Back- 

 houseana was introduced by the firui whose name it bears through 

 their collector, Butler, who found it near Frontino.§ Roezlii was 

 introduced by Messrs. Sander and Co., of St. Albans, in 1881 ; 

 severa by Mr. Bull, through Shuttleworth ; senilis by Messrs. Low 

 and Co. ; Wiiiiiiaaa first appeared in the collection of Mr. Charles 

 Winn, at the Uplands, Sely Hill, Birmingham, a collection 

 exceptionally rich in Ghimcera varieties.]] 



The habitat o£ Masdevallia Chimcera is restricted to a comparatively 

 small area on the western Cordillera of New Granada, extending 

 from Frontino, near Antioquia, to a few miles southward of that 

 town. Its vertical range is from 4,500 — 6,500 feet; it grows 

 chiefly on trees and shrubs, preferring the forks of the branches 

 where there is a small accumulation of decaying vegetable matter, 

 and where there is shade and moisture. In those localities in 

 which M. Ghimcera is most abundant the atmosphere i^ always at 

 or near the saturation point, and fogs and mists are almost of 

 daily occuri'ence for more than nine months of the year; but at 

 the higher limits of its range, where these hygrometric conditions 

 are less pronounced, the plants are much less vigorous, but flower 



* Gard. Chrou. IV. (1875), p. 233. 



t Gard. Chroii. 1873, p. 1238. 



J Gard. Cliron. II. (1874), p. 804. Id. 111.(1875), p. 40. Id. IV. p. 258. 



g Sander's Reichenbachia, I. sub. t. 19. 



II Besides the varieties described above there are other Ohimccra forms iu cultivation, named 

 and unnamed, so intermediate in character between these varieties that they may with equal 

 right be referred to either of the two between which they stand ; the probability is also 

 extremely great that other forms exist in the native liabitat of the species, suthcient in number 

 to connect the whole iuto a confluent series, 



