Oncidium harrisonianum Lindl. 1833 SECTION Paucituberculata Photo courtesy of © Lourens Grobler

Plant in situ La Caraça - Pico Da Carapuça, Minas Gerais elevation 1100 to 1300 meters

Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl

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Common Name Harrison's Oncidium [ English Orchid Enthusisast in Brazil around 1830's]

Flower Size about 1/8" [5 to 6 mm]

This miniature to small sized, cool to warm growing, lithophytic or epiphytic, cold to cool growing species is found in Rio de Janiero, Espiritu Santo, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais, Brazil on moss covered tree trunks in primary forests near streams in areas with hot dry days and cool nights with frequent dews at elevations around 1000 meters with elliptic to somewhat round, light green, laterally compressed, ancipitous, pseudobulb partially enveloped basally by a few dry, leafless sheaths and carrying a single, apical, elliptic, acute, stiff, leathery, very fleshy, keeled below, shortly conduplicate below into the base leaf that blooms in the fall on a basal, erect to arching, 5 to 12" [12.5 to 30 cm] long, to 40 flowered inflorescence with basal branches and partially open flowers. This plant has a decided "mule ear" look but differs in having conspicuous pseudobulbs.

Synonyms Aurinocidium harrisonianum ( Lindl. ) Romowicz & Szlach. 2006; Epidendrum auricula Vell. 1831; Grandiphyllum auricula ( Vell. ) Docha Neto 2006; Oncidium acrobotryum Klotzsch 1855; Oncidium auricula (Vell.) Pabst 1957; Oncidium pallidum Lindl. 1840; Oncidium pantherinum Hoffmanns. ex Lindl. 1855; Oncidium pentaspilum Hoffmanns. ex Lindl. 1855; Oncidium ramiferum hort. ex Klotzsch 1855

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list IPNI ; Orchids of the High Mountain Atlantic Rainforest in SE Brazil Warren & Miller 1994; The Pictoral Encyclopedia of Oncidium Zelenko 2002; Oncidium Vol 2 Koniger 2005; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006;

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