MASDEVALLU. 69 



upper sepals triangular, acuminate, reflexed ; lateral sejmls connate into a 



broadly obcordate, tailless blade 1 — H inches broad, each with three 



longitudinal veins that are deeper in colour than the intervening 



surface ; petals and lip mmute, whitish, the former oval-oblong, the 



latter linear-oblong. 



Masdevallia racemosa, Litidl. ex. Benth. PI. Hartw. p. 258 (1839). Id. Ann. 



et Mag. Nat. Hist. pp. 15, 256 (1845). Rchb. in Bonpl. III. p. 69 (1885). 



Id. in Gard. Chron. XX. (1883), p. 466. Id. XXI. (1884), p. 737, icon. xyl. 

 M. racemosa Crossii, Hort. 



Originally discovered in New Granada, by Hartweg, from whose 

 herbarium specimens it was named and described by Dr. Lindley, 

 in 1839. Many years later it was gathered by Cross at Pitayo, 

 near Popayan, whose name thence became attached to the plant, 

 although he failed to send living plants to Europe, as did other 

 collectors after him^ it being, it is said, one of the worst of 

 Masdevallias to travel. The merit of introduction is due to Mr. 

 Carder, of the firm of Messrs. Shuttleworth and Carder, who 

 succeeded in sending a small consignment of living plants to their 

 horticultural establishment in Park Road, Clapham, in 1883. Mr. 

 Carder gathered these plants on the central Cordillera, between 

 Popayan and Toll ma. 



As a species Masdevallia racemosa is one of the most distinct. 

 Although we have placed it in the sub-section Goccinece chiefly on 

 account of its brilliantly coloured flowers, it is clearly separated from 

 the other members of the group by its creeping rhizome and long 

 racemes of tailless flowers — cbaracters that would, by some, be con- 

 sidered of sufficient value to constitute a separate sub-sectional division. 



M. radiosa. 



Leaves oblanceolate, 6 — 8 inches long. Scapes dectmibent, shorter 

 than the leaves, three or more-flowered, the flowers produced successively 

 as in Masdevallia astuta, M. Chimcera, and other saccolabiate species. 

 Perianth tube broadly campanulate ; free portion of sepals similar and 

 sub-equal, very short, broadly oval, keeled behind, concave, tawny 

 yellow, pubescent, and densely spotted with blackish purple, warty 

 papiUse in front, with a deep depression at the suture of the lateral 

 pair ; tails 2 — 3 inches long, dull blackish purple, paler towards the 

 tips ; petals oblong, keeled, dilated at the apex, at which is a blackish 

 Avart; lip with a fleshy claw and saccate shell-like blade, white with 

 numerous rose-coloured radiating lamellse within the sac. Column yellow 

 above, blackish at the tip. 



Masdevallia radiosa, RcliL. in Gard. Chron. VII. (1877), p. 684. 



