!Tetramicra canaliculata [Aubl.] Urban 1918 Photo by Lourens Grobler Copyright © 2006 All rights reserved.
Another Flower Photo courtesy of Oak Hill GardensCopyright © 2002 All rights reserved.
LATE
and
Common Name Groove Leafed Tetramicra
Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]
A small sized, warm growing, lithophytic or epiphytic Florida and Caribbean native found in lowland scrub at the base of rosemary bushes or on rocky hillsides among limestone in full sun with sticklike short stems enveloped basally by imbricate, papery sheaths carrying 2 to 5 distichous, fleshy, semi-terete, linear-subulate, acute, channeled leaves and blooms on a 2'4" [70 cm] long, slender, racemose, few [to 8] flowered inflorescence that has several sheaths and ovate, acute bracts and the apically located, flowers opening in succession with up to 4 open at a time, all occuring in late spring and summer with slightly fragrant, showy flowers.
Synonyms Bletia rigida Rchb.f 1861; Brassavola rigida Bold. ?; Cymbidium rigidum Willd. 1805; Epidendrum canaliculatum [Aubl.] Poiret 1810; Helliborne folis rigidis Plumier 1703; *Limodorum canaliculatum Aubl. 1775; Limodorum folis subulatus Wildn. 1758; Tetramicra rigida [Wilde] Lindley 1831;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae vol 2 Rchb.f 1862 as Bletia rigida; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960; AOS Bulletin Vol 35 No 6 1966 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 51 No 9 1982 drawing; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 10 1992 photo; Cattleyas and Their Relatives Vol 4 Withner 1996;
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