58 MA.SDEVALL1A. 



Masdevallia, the former character suggesting the specific name, which 

 is from irXarvg (platus), " broad ,'^ and yXuxJCFa (glossa), "a tongue/^ 

 in orchid terminology '' lip." 



M. polysticta. 



Leaves sub-spathulate, emarginate, 5 — 6 inches long. Scapes longer 



than the leaves, pale green spotted with dull purple, racemose, 5 — 7 



flowered. Flowers white spotted with purple, on short pedicels, at 



the base of which is a rather large, inflated, pale green bract ; tube 



short ; free portion of the dorsal sepal broadly ovate, concave ; of the 



lateral two narrowly oblong, oblique, convex with a yellow mid-line, 



all with ciliolate margins, keeled behind, and terminating in slender tails 



that are white and spotted like the blade along the basal half, the 



distal half bright ochreous yellow ; petals and lip minute, the former 



spathulate, apiculate, the latter oblong and channelled above. 



Masdevallia polysticta, Rclib. in Garcl. Chron. I. (1874), p. 338. Id. II. p. 290. 

 Id. III. (1875), p. 656. icon. xyl. £ot. Mag. t. 6368. Kegel's Gartenfl. 1876, t. 869. 

 Illus. hort. s. 3. t. 199. Revue liort. 1880, p. 250. 



Of similar origin as Masdevallia Melanopus, with which is also 

 associated a third species, called M. caloptera, not yet in cultivation. 

 These, with three or four others knoAvn to science, form the sub- 

 section Amandce, all the members of which have a racemose 

 inflorescence with rather small, white or light-coloured flowers, more 

 or less spotted. As distinguished from M. Melanopus, M. polysticta 

 has larger leaves, more robust scapes that are spotted, broader 

 inflated bracts, larger flowers with broader sepals, that ai'e hairy 

 on the inner side and more spotted, and a differently shaped 

 Hp, especially at the apical end. It flowered for the first time 

 in England in our Chelsea Nursery, in the spring of lf^75. A 

 variety with shorter and stouter tails was communicated to Professor 

 Reichenbach by Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., in 188L* The specific 

 name, from ttoAuc (polus), "^'much," and (ttiktoq (stiktos), "'dotted,^' 

 refers to the spotted perianth. 



M. racemosa. 



Stems erect, 1| — 3 inches high, produced from a creeping rhizome 

 at intervals of h — 1 inch. Leaves elliptic-oblong, 2 — 4 inches long. 

 Scape 10 — L5 inches long, racemose, 8 — 15 or more flowered. Flowers 

 brilliant orange-red shaded with crimson, sometimes paler approaching 

 yellow; perianth tube cylindric, ribbed, f inch long; free portion of 



* Masdevallia polysticta crassicaudata, Gavd. Chron. XVII. (1881), p. 179, 



