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* . * 
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MASDEVALLIA CHIMAERA. 
[PiarE 203. | 
Native of New Grenada. 
Epiphytal. Plant tufted, producing from the crown numerous crowded leaves, 
the bases of which, and of the peduncles, are clothed with sheathing _ bracts. 
Leaves erect, six to nine inches long, broadly cuneate oblong acute, channelled, 
indistinctly nervose, the base tapering into a short petiole, which 1s closely 
invested by a truncate bract. Scape springing from amongst the leaves, somewhat 
decumbent, the upper part erect, slender, furnished with distinct sheathing boat- 
shaped oblong acute bracts, that next the ovary larger than the rest. Flowers 
solitary, widely expanded, the back and front nearly alike in colour, remarkable for 
their form; sepals three, divided nearly to the base, ovate, ciliated, fully an inch 
wide, the dorsal one an inch and a half long to the commencement of the tail, 
the lateral ones two inches long to the same point, beyond which the slender 
filiform tails, which, are not ciliated, extend eight to twelve inches or more in 
length; the surface is scabrous or papillose, and more or less hairy, the colour a pale 
ochreous or tawny yellow, thickly mottled with rich dark chocolate-purple, the eae 
forming transverse lines of spots or bars, irregular in form and size, the tails 
wholly dark chocolate-purple ; petals small, narrow cuneate-oblong, their apices four 
cleft; lip white, slipper-shaped, the sides toothed at the upper margin, one stout 
orange rib extending forwards from the base, and two smaller ones of the same 
colour produced on each side. | Colwmn green, reaching to the base of the lip, as 
long as the petals. 
Maspevatiia Crimara, Reichenbach fil. in Gardeners’ Chronicle, 1872, 463; 
Id., Xenia Orchidacea, ii, 195, t. 185, and t. 186, fig. 1; Moore, Florist and 
Pomologist, 1873, 2 with fig. 
The extraordinary group of Masdevallias, of which the subject of the annexed 
plate is a prominent example, ranks among the most curious and interesting species 
of a genus which has been getting numerous of late, but which, within a very 
few years, was only known to botanists by dried specimens, the plants being found 
to be so very difficult to import. Now that they have been brought to Europe in a 
living condition, it has been found that the species are remarkably numerous, and varied 
in character, and the plants have become more plentiful, having been more keenly 
sought after by our collectors, who have been well repaid for their researches. In 
their native habitats they must be very numerous, as, unfortunately, there have 
been many thousands lost on their way to Europe. 
The difficulty of importation lies in their not having any fleshy bulbs to support 
them on their journey, so that they require much extra care; they should be 
