Miltoniopsis santanaei Garay and Dunsterville 1976 Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl

Flower CloseupPhoto courtesy of Dale and Deni Borders.

to

Common Name Santana's Miltoniopsis

Flower Size 2 1/2" [6.25 cm]

A small sized, cool to warm growing, caespitose epiphte from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil found in seasonally flooded, wet forests at elevations of 200 to 1200 meters with a ovoid-ellipsoid, compressed pseudobulb that is subtended by foliaceous bracts that are shorter than the single, linear, petiolate, acuminate leaf that blooms on a 3 3/4" [10 cm] long, axillary, racemose inflorescence with ovate, acute floral bracts arising on a mature pseudobulb that are shorter than the leaves, and occurring in the summer and is a sight to see. This species, when discovered in 1976, did not fit into Miltonia just as the other members of Miltonopsis didn't seem to jive, so Dunsterville and Garay resurrected Miltonopsis from Godefroy-Lebeufs original genus of 1889 which used Miltonopsis vexillaria as the type species and added the other four species, leaving Miltonia confined to the Brazilian species.

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 6 Dunsterville & Garay 1976; AOS Bulletin Vol 47 No 10 1978 photo; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 167 Dodson 1980; AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 9 1993 photo; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 516 Bennett & Christenson 1998; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 Dodson 2002; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006;

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------