Aspasia variegata Lindl. 1836

Photo courtesy of Dario Melgar

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Common Name The Variegated Aspasia

Flower Size 1 3/4" [4.5 cm]

Found in Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia in moist forests at elevations of 200 meters as a small sized, hot growing epiphyte with a creeping, slender, bracteate rhizome and laterally strongly flattened, ellipsoid to oblong, glossy light green pseudobulbs that become lightly sulcate with age, subtended by 2 to 3 leaf bearing sheaths and carrying one or two, apical, glabrous, subcoriaceous, lanceolate to ligulate, acute, basally conduplicate and articulate leaves, blooming in the spring and summer on an ascending, few to several flowered, to 10" [25 cm] long, racemose inflorescence that gives rise to a few, successively opening, fragrant flowers This terrestrial orchid grows in hot temperatures with high humidity and moderate shade. After flowering a short 1 to 2 month rest is beneficial, resume watering and fertilizer with the onset of new growth and flowers best if given very cramped quarters in a small pot.

Synonyms Aspasia interrupta Hoffmanns. 1844; Aspasia liturata Link ex Rchb.f. 1855; Odontoglossum variegatum (Lindl.) Rchb.f. 1864

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Lankester's Epidendra Website CR ; *Edwards's Bot. Reg. 22: sub t. 1907. 1836; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1854 drawing; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing fide; Iconografia de Orchidaceae Do Brasil Hoehne 1949 drawing fide; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 drawing fide; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960; Encylopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 No 9 1967; Flora de Venezuela Volumen XV Part 5 Foldats 1970 drawing fide; Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 2 Pabst & Dungs 1977 Drawing good; Venezuela, Paraiso de Orquideas Romero 1997 photo fide; The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986 photo fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Bolivia plate 0301 Dodson & Vasquez 1989 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 10 1992 drawing fide; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Native Colombian Orchids vol 5 COS 1994 photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 33 - 36 2057 - 2308 Brieger 1997; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Dunsterville and Garay 1979 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003 drawing ok; Orchids of The Brazilian Central Plateua Menezes 2004 photo fide; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; Orquideas de Roirama Luz & Franco 2012 photo fide; Orchids, A Colombian Treasure Vol 1 Ortiz & Uribe 2014 drawing fide

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