!Cryptarrhena lunata R.Br. 1816 Photo courtesy of © Robert Takase.

Drawing Drawing by Sydenham Edwards

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Common Name or Meaning The Moon-Shaped Cryptarrhena

Flower Size .16" [4mm]

Found in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago as well as from Colombia to Peru at elevations of 30 to 1000 meters in shaded, very humid forests as a small to medium sized, hot growing epiphyte without pseudobulbs [a definitive sign of this species vs the others in the genus] and having imbricate leaf-sheaths and articulate, linear-lanceolate leaves and blooms on an axillary, 10 to 11" [25 to 27.5 cm] long, pendant, many flowered inflorescence that arises in the fall.

Synonyms Clinhymenia pallidiflora A. Rich. & Galeotti 1844, nom. inval.; Cryptarrhena pallidiflora (A.Rich. & Galeotti) Rchb.f. 1852; Orchidofunckia pallidiflora A.Rich. & Galeotti 1845

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Lankester's Epidendra Website CR ; *Bot. Reg. 2: t. 153. 1816; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1856; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909 as C pallidiflora; Flora of Jamaica Fawcett & Rendle 1910 drawing fide; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 drawing ok;; Venezuelan Orchids Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1965 drawing not = C kegelii; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 5 1970 not = C kegelii; Orchids of Venezuela ; An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing not = C kegelii; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 1008 Dodson 1984 drawing fide; AOS BulletinVol 55 NO 6 1986 drawing; The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986 photo ok; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 4 COS 1994 photo fide; Vanishing Beauty; Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005

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