!Ornithocephalus gladiatus Hook. 1824

SECTION Ornithocephalus

Photo courtesy of Ecuagenera

Flower close up what is best considered O gladiatus

Photo by © Moises Behar

Flowering plant in situ in Mexico

Photo by Weyman Bussey

to and

Common Name Sword-Shaped Lip Ornithocephalus

Flower Size 3/16" [5mm]

Found from the Windwards, Trinidad & Tobago, French Guiana, Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia as a miniature, fan shaped, hot to cool growing, twig epiphyte growing on old citrus and shrubs in montane rain forests at altitudes of 15 to 1800 meters and blooms in the summer and fall on an erect, axillary, to 3" [7.5 cm] long, racemose inflorescence with several flowers that is just longer than the leaves.

This species is best mounted on cork, tree fern or wood, given shady, humid conditions with even, year round waterings.

Synonyms Ornithocephalus bonplandii Rchb.f. 1863; Ornithocephalus gladiatus var. peruvianus C. Schweinf. 1949; Ornithocephalus ibis Rchb. f. 1863;

References <W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as O tripterus; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 as O bonplandi drawing good; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1965 drawing good; Flora de Venezuela Volumen XV Part 5 Foldats 1970 as O bonplandi drawing good; Flora de Venezuela Volumen XV Part 5 Foldats 1970 drawing good; Flora of the Lesser Antilles Garay & Sweet 1974 drawing fide; Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 2 Pabst & Dungs 1977 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as O bonplandii drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1065 Dodson 1984 drawing ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Peru Plate 0149 Dodson & Bennett 1989 drawing ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Bolivia plate 0361 Dodson & Vasquez 1989 drawing fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 3 COS 1991 photo ok;Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 30 1841 - 1904 Brieger 1994 photo good; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 2 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 as O bonplandii drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 2 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Lindleyana Vol 16 No 3 2001; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003 drawing ok; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009; Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 photo ok; Las Orquideas del Peru Izerskyy & Bezverhov 2011 as O bicornis not photo ok = O gladiatus; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018; Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 photo fide

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