Eulophia alta (L.) Fawc. & Rendle 1910

Inflorescence Photos by of Jay Pfahl

Flower Closeup Photos by of Eladio M. Fernandez © 2004

Full shade Warm to HotFall

Common Name The Erect Eulophia - The Wild Coco Orchid

Flower Size 3/4" [2 cm]

A large sized, pantropical, hot to warm growing terrestrial found in Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Siera Leone, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, Zaire, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Florida, Georgia USA, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leewards, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Windwards, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, French Guiana, Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, on roadside banks and marshy areas at elevations of sealevel to 1500 meters with tuberous stems concealed by basally clasping, leaf-bearing sheaths with linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 9 veined, plicate, stiff, basally conduplicate leaves with the mid-vein thickened and arising with the blooms occuring in the fall in the southern hemisphere on a basal, stiffly erect, racemose, 6' [2 m] long inflorescence with linear floral bracts that carry many [30+], resupinate flowers .

This one along roadside in Bertioga, Sao Paulo State Brazil at elevation 10 meters and was blooming there in the fall.

Synonyms Bletia alta (L.) Hitchc. 1893; Cypripedium epidendricum Vell. 1831; Cyrtopera alta (L.) Stehlé 1939; Cyrtopera amazonica Barb.Rodr. 1881; Cyrtopera longifolia (Kunth) Rchb. f. 1863; Cyrtopera vellosiana Barb.Rodr. 1881; Cyrtopera woodfordii (Sims) Lindl. 1833; Cyrtopodium woodfordii Sims 1816; Dendrobium longifolium Kunth 1816; Dendrobium mexicanum C. Presl 1827; Eulophia alta f. flavescens (Schltr.) F.Barros 2004; Eulophia alta f. pallida P.M.Br. 1995; Eulophia alta f. pelchatii P.M.Br. 1998; Eulophia alta var. alba L.C.Menezes 1998; Eulophia longifolia (Kunth) Schltr. 1816; Eulophia longifolia var. Cogn. 1902; Eulophia longifolia var. flavescens Schltr. 1922; Eulophia longifolia var. pachystelida Rchb.f 1852; Eulophia woodfordii (Sims) Rolfe 1897; Govenia barbata Poepp. & Endl. 1837-8; *Limodorum altum L. 1767; Lissochilus amazonicus Barb.Rodr. 1877; Maxillaria longifolia Lindley 1832; Paphiopedilum epidendricum (Vell.) Pfitzer 1894; Platypus altus (L.) Small 1767; Platypus papilliferus Small 1903; Xylobium longifolium [Kunth] Lindl. ex Spreng. 1828;

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909 as Cyrtopera longifolia; Flora Brasilica Vol XII VI Hoehne 1942 as Eulophia longifolia; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 105 Dodson 1980; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1222 Dodson 1985; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 3 Cribb 1989; Fairchild Tropical Garden Bulletin Vol 47 No 2 1992 photo; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 2 COS 1992; Icones Orchidacearum plate 056 Bennett & Christenson 1993; Orchids of the High Mountain Atlantic Rainforest in SE Brazil Warren & Miller 1994; AOS Bulletin Vol 65 No 3 1996 photo; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 2 Pope 1998; AOS Bulletin Vol 69 No 2 2000 photo; Orchidaceae Antillanae Nir 2000; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 2 Dodson 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 7 2004 photo; Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004; Vanishing Beauty; Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005; The Orchids of Cuba Llamacho & Larramendi 2005; Orquideas Da Chapada Diamantina Brito & Cribb 2005; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 5 2006 photo; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2006; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 no 1 2008 photo

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