MASDEVALLIA ROEZLIT RUBRA. 
[PLate 243. ] 
Native of New Grenada. 
Epiphytal. Stems tufted, numerous, springing from the crown, slender, clothed 
at the base with sheathing truncate bracts, and supporting either leaves or flowers 
Leaves oblong acute, narrowed towards and sheathing at the base, evergreen, six to 
nine inches long. Scapes erect, as_ thick as ‘a straw, six to eight inches 
long, green, with sheathing bracts below, a larger boat-shaped keeled spathe 
just below the flower, the end hooked, ‘and a smaller subulate one produced 
from the opposite side, the end of the scape below the sharply decurved ovary 
swollen and rounded off. Flowers solitary, expanded, remarkable for their size and 
form, in which they resemble M. Chimera; sepals three, connate at the base, 
triangular, with a chocolate-red tail-like continuation of the apex about four inches 
long, creamy yellow, heavily mottled transversely with deep chocolate-purple, the 
inner surface scabrous; each sepal is fully three-fourths of an inch wide and about 
two inches long in the broader part, then narrowing suddenly into the wholly dark 
red brown tail-like filiform apex; petals small, narrow, rounded at the tip, as long 
as the column, pale fawn with a purple spot near the end; lip pinkish, tongue- 
shaped, roundish oblong in front, with inflexed edges, and several longitudinal ribs 
inside. Colwmn decurved, shorter than the lip. 
MaspevaLi1A Rorziit RUBRA, of gardens; Williams, Orchid-Grower’s Manual, 
6 ed., 398 . 
We have here another curious form of Masdevallia allied to the M. Chimera 
figured in our fifth volume at Plate 203, and like it, one of nature’s most won- 
derful productions. The genus is a large one, abounding in its native habitats, 
‘and affording considerable variety in the way of species, of which many may be seen 
growing together on the same trees, their differently coloured blossoms moving in the 
breeze, having the appearance of insects on the wing. Many known species occur in - 
Central and Tropical America; indeed, more than one hundred species have been 
discovered during the past few years. There are, of course, amongst these many 
small and diminutive yet beautiful kinds, which are chiefly interesting to the botanist 
and amateur, but by the aid of the microscope these are often found to present 
charms that cannot be seen in any other way, and which, if not seen, could surely 
not be imagined. There are also many large-flowered kinds which are brilliant in 
colour, and held in high esteem by orchidists. The variety we now bring before 
our readers is a most charming plant. Our figure was derived from a_ well- 
grown specimen in the collection of W. Vanner, Esq., Camden Wood, Chislehurst. 
Masdevallia Roezlii rubra is a handsomer form of the typical M. Roezlii, being 
