Sudamerlycaste longipetala (Ruiz & Pav.) Archila 2002 SECTION Fimbriatae
Plant ensitu in Cundinamarca Colombia Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl
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Common Name The Long-Petal Sudamerlycaste
Flower Size to 7" [to 17.5 cm]
A large sized, variable, cold to warm growing species that is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela as an epiphyte, terrestrial or lithophyte on steep embankments in partial sun at elevations of 1000 to 3000 meters with large, broadly cylindrical or oblong-ovoid, compressed, sulcate or rugose with age pseudobulbs enveloped basally by a foliaceous sheath carrying 2 to 3 apical, plicate, deciduous, long petiolate, oblong-elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate leaves that bloom in the fall and spring although it can be variable on a basal, erect, usually few at once, to 12" [30 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence arising on a mature pseudobulb and subtended by a few, large, loose, tubular sheathing bracts and with the nodding, waxy, fragrant flowers held among the leaves.
Synonyms Dendrobium longipetalum (Ruiz & Pav.) Pers. 1807; Lycaste longipetala [Ruiz & Pavon] Garay 1962; *Maxillaria longipetala Ruiz & Pavon 1798;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 4 1970; Fieldiana Biology, Vol 33, 1st Supple. to the Orchids of Peru Scweinfurth 1970; Orchids of Venezuela ; An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as Lycaste longipetala drawing ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 391 Dodson 1980 drawing hmm; AOS Bulletin Vol 60 No 5 1991 as L longipetala; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 2 1991 as Lycaste longipetala photo hmm; Venezuela; Paraiso de Orquideas Romero 1997 as Lycaste longipetala photo fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 6 1998 as Lycaste longipetala photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 COS 2002 as L gigantea; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 10 2005 photo; Las Orquideas del Peru Bezverhov 2011 as Lycaste longipetala photo fide
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