Phragmipedium besseae Dodson & Kuhn 1981 Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl ©
Flower and Plant in situ in Ecuador
Pant Habitat and Flowers Photo courtesy of Eric Hunt
LATE 
and 
Common Name Mrs. Besse's Phragmipedium [American Orchid Collector 20th century]
Flower Size 1 1/2 to 2 1/2" [4 to 6.5 cm]
Found on the eastern slopes of the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru as a small sized, warm growing, lithophyte or terrestrial with no psuedobulbs on cliff-faces of riversides, on granite rocks, in wet montane forests at 1000 to 1500 meters with 6 to 10, linear to narrowly elliptic, coriaceous, dark green leaves in a broad fan shape where it blooms on a terminal, erect, 12 to 16" [30 to 40 cm]long, 1 to 4, succesive flowered, pubescent, racemose inflorescence that is shorter than the leaves with elliptic, boat-shaped bracts occuring in the late winter and spring.
Synonyms Paphiopedilum besseae (Dodson & J.Kuhn) V.A.Albert & Börge Pett. 1994
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II plate 567 Dodson 1989; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 3 COS 1991; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 346 Bennett & Christenson 1995; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003;
Phragmipedium besseae var flava Dodson&Kuhn 1981
Color variation Photo courtesy of Allen Black
Synonyms Phragmipedium besseae f. flavum (Braem) O.Gruss & Roeth 1999
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