Masdevallia 



as a rale, on close inspection. Also the sepals are 

 prolonged in the form of tails, sometimes to great 

 length. 



Masdevallias are forrnd along the western part 

 of Sonth America from New G-ranada to Pern ; a 

 very few also in the north-eastern parts. They 

 grow upon trees, but, as I understand a story which 

 Eoezl used to tell, the Indians cultivate them — 

 that is, the Harriimw species — like terrestrial 

 orchids. He saw a church decorated for some 

 festival witli such ropes of JlasdfvalUa Harry ana 

 that the most devoted zeal could not have supplied 

 the quantity had they heen gathered in the woods. 

 The Indians took him to a spot where they had a 

 '■ garden " of them, several acres in extent. It maj' 

 have been a rocky area, where the soil was very 

 thin and poor ; in such a situation, perhaps, the 

 plants would flourish as if on trees. The number 

 of species identiiied is very large. 3[r. Watson 

 says "' probably a hundred and fifty have been 

 described, and additions are constantly made." 

 But the great risk and difficulty of importing 

 plants so small and so slender, which have not the 

 shadow of a pseudo-bulb to sustain them during the 

 long hot journey, deprives us as yet of many grand 

 species known to botanists. Until their homes in 

 South America had been opened up, and the service 



127 



