MASDEVALLIA. 33 



more freely; the leaves are smaller and more leathery, tlie flower 

 scapes shorter and erect, and the flowers are smaller in all their 

 parts.* 



The name Ghimcera is mythological, but although a very fanciful 

 one for plant nomenclature, its application to this species is justified 

 by the singular appearance of the flowers. t 



M. civilis. 



Leaves linear-oblong, sub-acute, 5 — 6 inches long. Scapes very short, 

 mottled blackish purple, with a sheathing bract below the short, bent, 

 furrowed ovary, one-flowered. Flowers coriaceous, with a smooth polished 

 surface externally, and emitting a faint fetid odour ; perianth tube 

 cylindric, gibbous below at the base, greeuish yellow externally, in- 

 ternally deep purple at the base, above which it is spotted ; free portion 

 of sepals triangular, prolonged into short recurved tails, greenish yellow ; 

 petals sub-spathulate, acute, white with a deep purple sunk mid-line on 

 the inner side, keeled behind ; lip oblong, reflexed at apex, channelled 

 above, mottled and dotted with purple. Column stoutish, semi-terete, 

 winged on the inside, greenish above, purple below the stigmatic hollow. 

 Masdevallia civilis, Rclib. in Bonpl. II. (1854), p. 115. £ot. Alag. t. .'^476. 

 Discovered by Warscewicz in Peru, in 1852 — 3. It was first 

 cultivated in Europe by Consul Schiller, at Hamburg, by whom it 

 was communicated to Sir William J. Hooker, at Kew. The specific 

 name, civilis, " relating to citizens or the state,'^ is peculiar, and of 

 which we have seen no explanation respecting its application to 

 this plant. We are indebted to Mr. F. W. Moore, of the Koyal 

 Botanic Garden at Glasnevin, for materials for description. 



M. coccinea. 



Leaves obovatedanceolate, 6 — 9 inches long, narroAved below into long 

 petioles. Scapes 12 or more inches long, slightly flexuose, Avith 3 — 4 

 distant joints, at each of which is an appressed spotted sheath. Flowers 

 solitary, magenta-purple in the first introduced form and with the base 

 of the tube white ; perianth tube compressed, bent, slightly gibbous 

 below ; upper sepal linear, with a triangular base, flexuose above ; 



* The difference in the size of the leaves and the length of their foot-stalks, noticeable in 

 imported plants, often disappears more or less under cultivation, thence showing that the 

 smaller-leaved forms from the higher limits of the vertical range of the species are but climatic 

 variations. 



t The Chimera of mythology was a monster, the oflfspring of Typhou and Echidna, that 

 breathed flames of fire ; it had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon. 

 After ravaging Lycia and the surrounding countries, it was killed by the hero Bellerophon, 

 who, having obtained i)ossession of the winged horse Pegasus, rose with it into the air and slew 

 the Chimsera with his arrows. 



