!Artorima erubescens (Lindl.) Dressler & G.E. Pollard 1971 Photo by © Eric Hunt and his Flicker Orchid Photostream

Another Flower Photo courtesy of Weyman Bussey

Another Clone Photo courtesy of Eric Hunt

LATER

Common Name The Blushing Artorima

Flower Size 1 1/2" [3.5 cm]

Found in the evergreen cloudforests of Oaxaca and Guerrero states of Mexico on the highest peaks at elevations of 2400 to 3100 meters as a cold growing epiphyte with a thick rhizome giving rise to widely spaced, conical-ovoid pseudobulbs carrying 3 to 6, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, acute-obtuse leaves blooming in the later fall through winter on an 8" to 4' long [20 to 120 cm], terminal panicle carrying laxly few to many [6 to 100], fragrant, showy flowers.

It is reportedly very difficult to grow, probably because in situ it blooms when there is nocturnally freezing temperatures and this is difficult to reproduce within the greenhouse. Best grown mounted on tree fern, kept cold and given plenty of humidity, water and fertilizer. This orchid has become rare due to logging in the area.

Synonyms Encyclia erubescens Schlechter 1914; *Epidendrum erubescens Lindl. 1840

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Mexico and Guatemala Bateman 1843 as Epidendrum erubescens drawing fide; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as Encyclia erubescens; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936 as Epidendrum erubescens; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 1 1958 as Epidendrum erubescens photo good; Orquideas de Mexico Wright 1958 as Encyclia erubescens photo good; AOS Bulletin Vol 28 No 5 1959 as Epidendrum erubescens; AOS Bulletin Vol 30 No 8 1961 as Epidendrum erubescens photo ok; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as Epidendrum erubescens; Orchid Digest Vol 37 No 2 1973 as Atorima erubescens photo fide; The Genus Encyclia in Mexico Dressler & Pollard 1974 as excluded species Encyclia erubescens; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977; ORQUIDEA (Méx.) 9(1): 1983 drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum I Plate 2 Soto Arenas 1990 drawing fide; Cattleyas and Their Relatives Vol 5 Withner 1998 photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 42 - 43 pg 2626 - 2762 Brieger 2001 photo fide; *The Cattleya and Their Relatives Vol 7 The Debateable Epidendrum Withner & Harding 2004; Algunas Orquideas de Oaxaca Suarez 2004 photo fide; Algunas Orquideas de Mexico Tomo 1 Suarez 2013 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 83 #2 2019 photo fide;

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