De cómo las orquídeas obtuvieron sus nombres: Masdevallia deformis var. excelsa
How is it possible that an orchid with the epithet ‘misshapen’ has a variety with the epithet ‘very beautiful’? So, is she deformed or is she pretty?
The story of this was told by Carlyle Luer himself to Mario Portilla, and he told it to me over a few beers.
We don’t know if Luer’s assumptions about the origin of ‘deformis’ are correct, but we do know that he wanted to do justice to this species of Masdevallia. Read how he did it and try not to laugh…
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