!Oncidium altissimum [Jacq.]Swartz 1800 SECTION Oblongata

Inflorescence Photos courtesy of Richard Gautier and His Guadeloupe Orchid Page

Common Name The Extremely High Oncidium

Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]

Found in the Lesser Antilles Islands of Martinique, Trinidad and St. Vincent at altitudes of sea-level to 200 meters as a medium sized, psuedobulbed, hot growing epiphyte with clustered to ovoid to suborbicular, laterally compressed, rugose with age pseudobulbs enveloped basally by several imbricating leaf-bearing sheaths and carrying 2 apical, oblong-ligulate, acute, conduplicate below into the petiole-like base leaves , it is an easy plant to grow either potted or mounted with bright light and regular waterings and blooms in the spring on a basal, arcuate, branched, 6' [180 cm] long inflorescence that has many, glossy flowers. It is one of the earliest orchids cultivated at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens and was brought in by Captain Bligh who at a latter date survived the Mutiny on the HMS Bounty in the Pacific. This species is often found in conjunction with ants and may benefit from their presence.

Synonyms Cymbidium altissimum Sw. 1799; *Epidendrum altissimum Jacq. 1760; Epidendrum crispum Lam. 1783; Oncidium forkelii Scheidw. 1842; Xeilyathum altissimum (Jacq.) Raf. 1837

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 5 1958 drawing; Orchid Digest Vol 44 No 2 1980 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 10 1992 photo; The Pictoral Encyclopedia of Oncidium Zelenko 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 8 2004; Orquideologia Vol. 23 No 2 2004; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006;

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