Lycaste deppei [Lodd.]Lindley 1843 SECTION Lycaste Photo courtesy of Jean Claude George.

Color VariationPhoto courtesy of Jay Pfahl.

Flowering Plant ensitu Photo courtesy of Weyman Bussey.

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Common Name Deppe's Lycaste [English Orchid Collector in Mexico 1800's]

Flower Size to 4 1/2" [to 11.5 cm]

Found in Tamaulipas, Puebla, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas states of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua on trees and rocks in humid montnae forests at elevations of 1100 to 1700 meters and is a small to medium sized, cold to warm growing epiphyte or a lithophyte with ovoid, compressed pseudobulbs enveloped basally by scarious sheaths carrying several apical, elliptic-lanceolate, plicate, deciduous, acuminate leaves that when fallen leave a few sharp spines. They have very fragrant flowers in the spring on a erect, several at once, to 6" [15 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence with scarious sheaths and appear as the new growths arise and they are sometimes deciduous, so as the leaves brown to fall off they should be kept cooler and dry until the new growths arise in the spring.

Synonyms Deppia mexicana Raf. 1836; Lycaste chrysoptera Morr. 1849; Lycaste deppei var praestans Linden 1898; Lycaste deppei var rosea Oakley 2008; Lycaste deppei var viridis Oakley 2008; Lycaste deppei [Lodd.] Ldl. var punctatissima Rchb.f. ?; Lycaste leiantha Beer 1854; Maxillaria chrysoptera [Morr.] Beer 1854; *Maxillaria deppei Lodd. 1833; Maxillaria leiantha Beer ?

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; AOS Bulletin Vol 30 No 9 1961; The Genus Lycaste Fowlie 1970; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 5 1979; AOS Bulletin Vol 52 No 9 1983 photo; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1031 Dodson 1984; AOS Bulletin Vol 60 No 3 1991; Orchid Digest Vol 71-74 Oakley 2007; Lycaste, Ida and Anguloa The Essential Guide Oakley 2008; Icones Orchidacearum fascile 10 plate 1041 Hagsater & Soto 2008

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