Rhynchostele bictoniensis (Bateman) M.A.Soto Arenas & G.A.Salazar 1993
Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl.
Alba Variety Photos by © Lourens Grobler.
Plant en situ in Mexico Photos courtesy of Robert Weyman Bussey.
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Common Name Bicton Rhynchostylis [English Village With Large Greenhouse]
Flower Size to 1 1/2" [to 3.75 cm]
This is a Mexican, large sized species and the third photo is of one en situ on the roadside between Tuxtla Gutierrez and San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. This large, cold to cool growing epiphytic or terrestrial species is found on trees in humid forests, on rock on cliffs and terrestrially, at 2000 to 3200 meters in altitude in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama with elliptic, laterally compressed pseudobulbs subtended by 2 to 3, conduplicate, foliaceous bracts and carrying apically a single, elliptic-lanceolate, conduplicate leaf and it blooms on a erect, basal, to 1' [30cm] long, simple or few branched inflorescence arising on a newly formed pseudobulb with narrowly elliptic-lanceolate bracts in the winter and spring. It requires medium shade, even watering and humidity while in growth, and a cold, drier winter.
Synonyms Cymbiglossum bictoniense (Bateman) Halb. 1983; *Cyrtochilum bictoniense Bateman 1838; Lemboglossum bictoniense (Bateman) Halb. 1984; Odontoglossum bictoniense [Bateman.] Lindley 1840; Oncidium bictoniense hort. 1833; Zygopetalum africanum Hooker 1840
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , Lankester's Epidendra Website CR ; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1442 Atwood 1992 as Lemboglossum bictonense; Fieldiana Biology, Flora Costa Ricensis Family # 39 Orchidaceae, subtribes Maxillariinae and Oncidiinae Atwood & Mora 1997; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; The Pictoral Encyclopedia of Oncidium Zelenko 2005
