!Govenia superba (La Llave & Lex.) Lindl. ex Lodd. 1831
Plant ensitu in Mexico Photo by Edouard Faria ©
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Common Name The Superb Govenia
Flower Size 1 1/2" [3.75 cm]
Oaxaca Mx., 1524m to 2700 meters in elev.,
Found from central Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador at elevations of 2000 to 3000 meters in very wet montane oak-pine forests as a large sized, warm to cold growing, tubered terrestrial on south facing slope in deep canyons, with shade, and with globose pseudobulbs enveloped basally by scarious bracts and carrying 2, apical, thin, elliptical, plicate leaves which are red underneath that blooms in the spring or fall on a terminal, erect, red, to 3 1/2' [105 cm] long, racemose inflorescence with prominent bracts and loosely many, fragrant flowers arising from the center of a newer growth.
Synonyms Govenia fasciata Lindl. 1843; Govenia stictoglossa Schltr. 1924; Govenia sulphurea Rchb. f. 1885; Govenia utriculata var. lagenophora (Lindl.) Griseb.; *Maxillaria superba La Llave & Lex. 1825
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1856; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1856 as G superba var tenuis; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten II Colombia Schlechter 1920 as G platyglossa; Beitrage Zur Orchideenkunde Von Colombia 27:79 Schlechter 1924 as G stictoglossa; Flora Brasilica Vol XII VI Hoehne 1942 as G sulphurea; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959; AOS Bulletin Vol 38 No 6 1969; Orquideologia Vol 12 No 1 1977 photo; Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 1 Hamer 1974 drawing/photo fide; Orchids of Venezuela ; An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as G fasciata drawing ok; Orchids of Venezuela ; An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 386 Dodson 1980 drawing ok ; Las Orquedias de El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 drawing ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 754 Dodson 1982 as Govenia capitata; Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 McVaugh 1985; Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 McVaugh 1985 as Govenia lagenophora; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 5 COS 1994 as G fasciata photo ok; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 2 Dodson 2002 as G platyglossa; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 as G fasciata photo fide; Vanishing Beauty; Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 as Govenia lagemorpha
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