302 ORCHIDS 



Masdeuallia. 



are included in tliis yenus, belonging to the tribe 

 EpidendrCiC. It was founded by Ruiz and Pavon, and 

 named in compliment to Dr. Masdevall, a Spanish 

 botanist and phj'sician. Probabh- 150 species have been 

 described, and new additions are constantly being made. 

 Although a large proportion of the species are wanting in 

 size of flower and colour attraction, }'et, owing to the 

 \-ery singular, often grotesque, forms assumed by the 

 flowers, many of them are in cultivation in the gardens 

 of at least a few specialists. ('Fig- 93.J Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence, Bart., AI.P. (Burford, Dorking;, and Mr. R. I. 

 Measures, of Camberwell, have the most e.xtensive collec- 

 tions of Masdevallias. In the Botanic Gardens at Glas- 

 nevin there is also a well-cultixated and rich collection. 



All the species lia\e a tufted habit, green, strajj- 

 shaped or spoon-shaped lea\'es, and flowers in which 

 the sepals are much more conspicuous than the petals and 

 lip, these latter organs being often entirely hidden in the 

 tube formed by the union of the sejjals at the base. The 

 \-ariety of form and arrangement shown in the sepals of 

 these plants is probabh' unequalled in any other genus of 

 Orchids. The section represented by M. Chiiiuura is, as 

 the name denotes, most fantastic — " dog-fish like, a floral 

 octopus " — in flower-character ; the simple shape of 

 J/, cociinca, M. igiiea, and all of that section, is insignificant 

 in comparison with their colour-brilliancy ; whilst in the 

 jewel-like flowers of the tin\' species, such as M. tri- 

 dactylitcs and M. triglochiit, there is great beauty of 

 structure as well as of colour. In 1865 there were scarcely 

 half-a-dozen species known in gardens ; then came the 

 snowy J/, toi'airiisis, fol!r)wed by the flame-coloured 

 M. Vcitchiana, and the pojuilarity of Masdevallias was at 

 once assured. 



The peculiar form and C(jlour of the flowers — the former 

 often grotesque, and the latter brilliant in some cases, 

 lurid in others — have won for this genus exceptional 

 favour with culti\"ators. Amongst the many charms that 

 Masdevallias possess must be reckoned one which, till 

 recently, was scarcely known to exist in the great Orchid 

 family — sensitiveness, such as is possessed by Venus' 

 Fly-trap and the Sensitive Plant. At Kew, in 1887, 

 a small plant of J/, iniiscosa flowered for the first time 



