Medium sized epiphyte. Pseudobulbs ovoid, to 9 cm long, compressed, clustered. Leaves solitary, linear, to 35 cm long, to 3.5 cm wide, rigid. Flowers several around each pseudobulb, to 10 cm wide, deep red and orange-red, yellowish at base, labellum red-black; summer to autumn. Sepals similar, lanceolate, spreading, pointed at tip. Petals slightly smaller, spreading. Labellum obscurely 3-lobed, midlobe oblong, fleshy at tip.
Venezuela and Colombia.
M. lepidota Lindl. from tropical S America is a medium sized epiphyte or terrestrial with small 1- or 2-leaved pseudobulbs and large, solitary, yellow and red flowers on moderately long stalks.
M. luteo-alba Lindl. from C and S America is a medium sized epiphyte or terrestrial with small 1-leaved pseudobulbs and large, solitary, mostly white and yellow flowers on moderately long stalks.
Source: (2005). Orchidaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.