Encyclia ambigua [Lindley] Schlechter 1914 Photo courtesy of Andy's Orchids, Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved
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Common Name The Ambiguous Encyclia
Flower Size 2" [5 cm]
Found in Chiapas Mexico, and Guatemala as a medium sized, hot to cool growing epiphyte at elevations of 950 to 1875 meters and is similar in habit to Enc. alata. They have clustered, ovoid-conical pseudobulbs carrying 2 to 3 apical, linear-ligulate, acute, gradually narrowing below into the clasping base leaves. They bloom in the late spring and summer on a terminal, 3 1/2' [105 cm] long, many flowered, racemose or branched inflorescence arising on a mature pseudobulb with to 30, lightly fragrant flowers, akin to beeswax and honey. This species is confused with E trachychila found in Guatemala, El Salvasdor, Nicaragua and Honduras which has "brown sepals and petals, obovate-spathulate petals, a deep yellow lip with a midlobe carrying many prominent, purplish warts arising from raised lamellae and subquadrate column auricles, E ambigua has pale greenish cream flowers with narrowly oblanceolate-spethulate petals, a few broken lines of purple-pink dots on the lobes of the lip the midlobe of the lip with a few slightly raised veins showing very few to no warts and has a proportionally longer lip callus and obliquely triangular column auricles.
Synonyms Epidendrum alatum Lindl. 1847; *Epidendrum ambiguum Lindley 1853;
References W3 Tropicos [http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/vast.html] , Kew Monocot list [ http://www.kew.org/wcsp/home.do ], IPNI [ http://www.us.ipni.org/ipni/plantsearch?request_type=search&output_format=query&ret_defaults=on Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 681 Dodson 1982; Icones Orchidacearum 5 & 6 Orchids Of Mexico Parts 2 & 3 Plate 517 Hagsater, Soto 2002