Lycaste longipetala [Ruiz & Pavon] Garay 1962 Section Fimbriatae
Plant ensitu in Cundinamarca Colombia Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl
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Common Name The Long-Petal Lycaste
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 gigantea Lindley 1843; Maxillaria gigantea [Lindley]Beer 1854; Maxillaria heynderyexii E. Morren 1845; *Maxillaria longipetala Ruiz & Pavon 1798; Sudamerlycaste longipetala (Ruiz & Pav.) Archila 2002
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; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 391 Dodson 1980; AOS Bulletin Vol 60 No 5 1991 as L longipetala; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 2 1991; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 6 1998; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 COS 2002 as L gigantea; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 10 2005 photo
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