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PL. CCCLXXXVII. 
MASDEVALLIA x POURBAIXII norr. 
M. EUG. POURBAIX’S MASDEVALLIA. 
MASDEVALLIA. Vide Lindenia, Engl. ed., vol. II, p. 17. 
Masdevallia  Pourbaixii. Hybrida inter Masdevallia VeitchianaQ et M. Shuttleworthii @ producta. 
ybrid Masdevallias are not yet very numerous, although they are not 
more difficult to obtain than in other genera. They have also the 
advantage of being easy of culture and of rapid growth, and the wonder 
is that they have not been raised in larger numbers. One reason probably is that 
the genus Masdevallia is not one which finds great favour among amateurs of 
Orchids. Artificial hybrids have probably helped to restore to it a certain amount 
of popularity, if not to the high rank which it occupied a few years ago, by giving 
rise to new forms and more varied colours. The only defect of the genus may 
perhaps by this means be removed, as for a long time the explorations of 
collectors have not resulted in many new acquisitions in the genus. 
Masdevallia % Pourbaixti was obtained by M. Evcine Poursarx, of Mons, 
by crossing M. Veitchiana with the pollen of M. Shuttleworthii. The cross was 
effected during the summer of 1888, and the seeds matured in about eight 
months, and were sown in March of the following year. It flowered for the first 
time just four years later, in March, 1893. 
The new hybrid is quite intermediate between its two parents. In habit 
it most resembles the pollen parent, but the flower, on the contrary, presents a 
perfect combination of the characters of the two species interested. In size, it is 
about intermediate; in shape, it most resembles M. Shuttleworthii, but it is a 
little less open and more elongated; in colour, it approaches the superb vermillon- 
scarlet of M. Veitchiana, which will always make this beautiful species sought 
for in artificial crossing; still, as might easily be forseen, we find also the 
presence of a more sombre tint, a dull orange-yellow, covered with a multitude 
of little brownish red dots. We observe also some lines of a darker tint. 
This hybrid is dedicated to M. Eva. Poursaix, its raiser, and this dedication 
is justified by the fact that M. Poursarx has the merit of producing the first 
hybrid which has appeared in Belgium, and probably on the continent, so far as 
we are able to ascertain. 
Masdevallia x Pourbaixii, only produced a single bloom on the occasion 
of its first flowering, which is not suprising, as the plant is still very small. We 
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