MASDEVALLIA. 57 



spotted perianth tube and lateral sepals. The specific name, from 

 7ra-)^uc (pachus), " thick/' and avOo^ (anthos)^ a flower, refers to the 

 leathery texture of the perianth.* 



M. Peristeria. 



Leaves oblanceolate-oblong, 4 — 6 inches long. Scapes sliorter than the 



leaves, with a loosely sheathing bract at the joint below the ovary, 



one-flowered. Flowers 4 — 5 inches across from tiji to tip of sepals ; 



tube broadly cylindrie, gibbous at the base, and with six prominent 



ribs, dull yellowish green externally ; free portion of sepals triangular, 



yellow, spotted witli purjile, and contracted into stoutish, tawny yellow 



tails, 1 ^ inches long ; petals linear-oblong, acute, pale greenish yellow ; 



lip "with a linear claw, and oblong sub-acute limb which is dilated 



in the middle and suddenly contracted beyond it, upper surface studded 



with amethystine papillae, tip recurved." Column white. 



Masdevallia Peristeria, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. I. (1874). p. 500. £ot. Mag. 

 t. 6159. Van Houtte's FL des Set res. XXII. t. 2346. Illus. hort. s. 3. t. 327. 



One of the handsomest of the coriaceous Masdevallias, introduced 

 by us from New Granada, in 1873, through Gustav Wallis, who met 

 with it in the province of Antioquia. The labellum is very singu- 

 larly coloured, being covered with numerous close-set amethystine 

 papillas, and the top of the column and the petals have a striking 

 resemblance to the same organs of the flower of the Dove Plant, 

 Peristeria electa, which suggested the specific name. A variety with 

 somewhat smaller flowers, and thence called minor, is in cultivation 

 in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin. 



M. platyglossa. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate, 6 inches long, rigid, erect. Scapes decumbent, 

 shorter than the leaves, one-flowered. Flowers of semi-transparent 

 texture, and of a uniform light green; tube short, cylindrie with a 

 gibbosity below ; free portion of sepals triangular, contracted to sharp 

 points, each with three prominent veins ; petals ligulate, with a triangular 

 lacinia above the middle ; lip oval-oblong, reflexed, and with numerous 

 papillge at the apex. Column minutely cucullate. 



Masdevallia platyglossa, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. XVIII. (1882), p. 552. 

 A native of the province of Antioquia, New Granada, but by whom 

 discovered and introduced we do not find recorded. The broad, 

 fleshy lip, and the absence of the sepaline tails, well distinguish this 



* This name is not especially applicable to this species ; Masdevallia elephanticeps, M. 

 Gurgauhca, M. Moorcana, for example, liave much thicker [icrianths. 



