Masdevallia

The name Masdevallia was dedicated by Botanics Hipólito Ruiz and José Antonio Pavón in 1794 to Jose Masdeval, a doctor and botanist at the court of Charles III of Spain.

Masdevallia is a genus with around 590 species that occur from Mexico to southern Brazil, but mainly in the higher areas (2500 - 4000m) of the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
They are epiphyten, terrestrial plants or lithofytes that grow on moist stones. These plants have crawling Rizomes, where stems are coming without pseudobulb. These stems each carry one oval to lancet -shaped leaf. The flowers are triangular and grow separately on one handle, or on a bunch. They have a waxy flower chalice and a reduced flower crown. The sepals are connected to the base and often have long shoots. The petals are opposite the gynostemium, which makes a tongue -shaped lip flexible.

Because this orchid has no bulb or thick leaves to store water, extra attention is paid to watering. The plant should not stay dry for too long, but this special orchid is not cheerful from continuous wet feet or too long in a wet substrate. But when you get through the tricks of the water, this is a very nice and unique orchid to have.