Lycaste skinneri [Batem. ex Lindley] Lindley 1843 SECTION Lycaste Photo courtesy of Weyman Bussey.

Rose Variety Photo courtesy of Jean Claude George.

Rose with white lip speckled rose

Orange variety Photo courtesy ofGreg and Kerri Steenbeeke and their Orkology Kreations Website

to and EARLY

Common Name White Nun Orchid or in Guatemala Monja Blanca - Skinner's Lycaste [English Discoverer of species 1800's]

Flower Size to more than 6" [to more than 15 cm]

This is a warm to cold growing, large sized, epiphytic or lithophytic orchid from wet montane forests and pine-oak-liquidambar forests at altitudes of 1200 to 1800 meters that has ovoid, compressed pseudobulbs carrying several, apical, deciduous, plicate, elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate leaves, dropping in the autumn, from that time on the plant needs no water or fertilizer and should only be resumed with the emergence of the new growth and flowering in the winter and early spring. The inflorescence is erect, with a few at once, 6 to 12" [15 to 30 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence with the peduncle being concealed by inflated sheathing bracts. The flower is long-lasting, fragrant, and highly variable in size and color. This orchid is the national flower of Guatemala where it is known by the common name 'Monja Blanca' or white nun orchid, it is also found in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Synonyms Lycaste alba Cockerell 1919; Lycaste jamesiana hort. 1889; Lycaste schoenbrunnensis Umlauft 1893; Lycaste skinneri f. virginalis (Scheidw.) Christenson 1996; Lycaste skinneri var. alba Dombrain 1872; Lycaste virginalis [Scheidw.]Lindley 1888; Maxillaria skinneri Lindl. 1840; *Maxillaria skinneri Bateman ex Lindley 1842; Maxillaria virginalis Scheidw. 1842

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchid Digest Vol 71-74 Oakley 2007; Icones Orchidacearum 5 - 6 Orchids of Mexico Part 2 - 3 Plate 611 Hagsater & Soto 2002

Lycaste skinneri [Batem. ex Lindley] Lindley var alba 1843 Photo courtesy of Stephen R. Skoien and Rolfe Horticulture Web Page in Mountain View Hawaii

A white form.

Lycaste skinneri var semialba Section Macrophyllae Photo courtesy of Eric Hunt, plant grown by Walter Shinn.

A white and some color form.