Oncidium excavatum Lindley 1838 SECTION Excavata

Photo by Jay Pfahl

and EARLY

Common Name The Hollow Oncidium [refers to the deep pit at the base of the underside of the lip]

Flower Size 1 1/2" [3.75 cm]

Found in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru in moist montane forests at elevations of 2400 to 2800 meters as a large sized, cold growing, terrestrial species on steep embankments with numerous, clustered, ovoid or oblong-ovoid, slightly compressed pseudobulbs enveloped basally by a few leaf-bearing sheaths and carrying 1 or 2 apical, linear to narrowly oblong, long attenuate towards the apex, subpetiolate below leaves that blooms in spring and early summer with a stout, axillary, 2 to 4' 8" [60 to 150 cm] long, erect or arcuate, laxly many flowered panicle with 8 to 12, ascending, 10 to 20 flowered branches that arises on a newly forming pseudobulb and carrying successively opening flowers.

Synonyms Oncidium aurosum Rchb.f 1854; Oncidium boissieri Kraenzl. 1922; Oncidium excavatum var. aurosum (Rchb.f. & Warsz.) Lindl. 1855; Oncidium excavatum var. dawsonii B.S. Williams 1885; Oncidium rupestre Lindl. 1844; Oncidium rupestre var. skinneri (Lindl.) Lindl. 1855; Oncidium skinneri Lindl. 1855; Vitekorchis excavata (Lindl.) Romowicz & Szlach. 2006

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1854 as Oncidium aurosum; Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1878 as O rupestre; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing fide; Das Pflanzanreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922; Das Pflanzanreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922 as Oncidium rupestre drawing ok; Das Pflanzanreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922 as O boissieri; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 9 1958 photo fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #4 1967; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 474 Dodson 1982 drawing ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Peru Plate 0125 Dodson & Bennett 1989 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Bolivia plate 0358 Dodson & Vasquez 1989 drawing fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 33 - 36 2057 - 2308 Brieger 1997 photo fide; The Pictoral Encyclopedia of Oncidium Zelenko 2002; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003 drawing/photo ok; Orquideologia Vol. 23 No 2 2004; Oncidium Vol 1 Koniger 2004 photo/drawing fide; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orquideas del Peru Freuler 2010 photo ok; Orchid Digest Vol 81 #2 2017 photo fide;

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