!Anacheilium cochleatum Hoffmannsegg 1842
Plant in situ with flowers in Dominican Republic Photos courtesy of Jay Pfahl
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Common Name Clamshell or Cockle Shell Anacheilium - Octopus Orchid - In Cuba Orquedea negra
Flower Size to 3 1/2" [to 8.75 cm]
The 'cockleshell orchid' has upside down flowers with smooth, ovoid to oblong-elliptic, compressed pseudobulbs partially enveloped basally by several, imbricate, scarious sheaths with 2 to 3, apical, elliptic, acute, gradually narrowing below, basally clasping leaves and can bloom for 6 months starting in the spring with an apical, erect, short to 15" [to 37.5 cm], few to many flowered, racemose inflorescence with a basal sheath that has successive opening, non-fragrant flowers. They originate from Florida, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Leewards, Puerto Rica, Windwards, French Guiana, Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela and Colombia as a medium sized epiphyte found in dense tropical evergreen, deciduous and oak forests at altitudes up to 1900 meters that grow warm and require even water and fertilizer throughout the year. People have been known to eat the cooked psuedobulbs.
Synonyms Aulizeum cochleatum [L.] Lindley 1892; Encyclia cochleata [L.] Lemee 1955; Encyclia lancifolia (Pav. ex Lindl.) Dressler & G.E. Pollard 1971 *Epidendrum cochleatum L. 1763; Epidendrum cochleatum var. costaricense Schltr. 1923; Epidendrum cochleatum var. pallidum Lindl.; Epidendrum lancifolium Pav. ex Lindl. 1853; Hormidium cochleatum [L.] Breiger 1977; Phaedrosanthus cochleatus O.Ktze. 1904; Prosthechea cochleata (L.) W. E. Higgins 1997
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Lankester's Epidendra Website CR as Prosthechea cochleata; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909 as Epidendrum cochleatum;Venezuelan Orchids Vol 4 Dunsterville & Garay 1966 as Epidendrum cochleatum; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970 as Epidendrum cochleatum; AOS Bulletin Vol 54 No 4 1985 photo as Protheschea cochleata; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1992 as Encyclia cochleata; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as Epidendrum cochleatum; Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 McVaugh 1985 as Encyclia cochleata; Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb, Laurent 1992 as Encyclia cochleata; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 6 1995 Photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 11 1995 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 66 No 5 1997 photo as Encyclia cochleata; Orchid Australia Vol 12 No 2 2000 photo; Australian Orchid Review Vol 68 No 5 2003 photo; Flora's Orchids Nash & La Croix 2005 as Protheschea cochleata; The Cattleyas and Their Relatives, the Debateable Epidendrum Withner and Harding 2004; The Genus Encyclia in Mexico Dressler & Pollard 1976 as Encyclia cochleata; A Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama Dressler 1993 as Encyclia cocleata; Las Orquedias de El Salvador Hamer 1974 as Encyclia cocleata; Icones Orchidacearum I Plate 16 Salazar 1990 as Encyclia cochleata; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 687 Dodson 1982 as Encyclia cochleata; Orchids of Guatemala and Belize Ames and Corell 1985 as Epidendrum cocleata; The Orchids of Panama Williams 1980 as Epidendrum cochleatum; Orcidaceae Brasilensis Pabst & Dungs 1972 as Epidendrum cochleatum; An Introduction to the Orchids of Mexico Wiard 1987 as Encyclia cochleata; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Dunsterville and Garay 1979 as Epidendrum cochleatum; AOS Bulletin Vol 63 No 5 1994 photo as Encyclia cochleata; Native Orchids of Colombia Vol 5 as Encyclia cochleata; AOS Bulletin Vol 71 No 4 2002 photo; Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glenn 2002 as Protheschea cochleata; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 2 2005 photo; The Orchids of Cuba Llamacho & Larimendi 2005 as Prosthechea cochleata; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 3 2006 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 8 2006 photo as Prosthechea cochleata; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2006 as Prosthechea cochleata; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 10 2006 photo as Prosthechea cochleata; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 8 2008 drawing; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 9 2008 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 no 1 2008 photo;
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Anacheilium cochleatum var. alba [L.] Hoffmannsegg 1842
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Australian Orchid Review Vol 68 No 5 2003 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 5 2005 photo;
Anacheilium cochleatum var. triandrum (Ames) Sauleda & Wunderlin & B.F. Hansen 1986
Common Name The Three Anthered Encyclia
Flower Size to 2 1/2" [to 6.25 cm]
This variety occuring in Florida, Puerto rico and the Dominican Republic has 3 anthers instead of the normal 2 and the flowers and plants are smaller.
Synonyms Anacheilium cochleatum var. triandrum (Ames) Sauleda & Wunderlin & B.F. Hansen 1986; Encyclia cochleata f. albidoflava P.M.Br. 1995; Encyclia cochleata subsp. triandra (Ames) Hágsater 1994; Encyclia cochleata var. triandra (Ames) Dressler 1961; *Epidendrum cochleatum var triandrum Ames 1904; Epidendrum triandrum (Ames) House 1906; Epidendrum cochleatum var. triandrum Ames 1904; Prosthechea cochleata f. albidoflava (P.M.Br.) P.M.Br. 1998; Prosthechea cochleata subsp. triandra (Ames) Nir 2000; Prosthechea cochleata var. triandra (Ames) W.E. Higgins; Prosthechea cochleata var. triandra (Ames) Hágsater 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 no 1 2008 photo
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