Dracula radiosa (Rchb.f.) Luer 1978 SUBGENUS Dracula SECTION Dracula SUBSECTION Dracula SERIES Dracula
Photos by © Eric Hunt
Photo by © Gary Meyer
Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name The Radiating Dracula [refers to the lip]
Flower Size 2" x 6" [5 x 15 cm]
Found from Antioquia, Risaralda and Cauca departments of Colombia and northwest Ecuador in cloud forests at elevations of 1600 to 2100 meters as a small sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte with erect, stout ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical,erect, thinly coriaceosu, carinate, elliptical, subplicate, acute, gradually narrwoing below into the conduplicate, indisitint, subpetiolate base leaf that blooms in the winter, spring and summer on a stout, subverrucose, horizontal to descending, arising from low on the ramicaul, 4 to 8" [10 to 20 cm] long, subdense, successively few flowered, racemose inflorescence with tubular, shorter than the pedicel floral bract.
"The plant is large with broad subplicate leaves and descending peduncles. The flowers are large and of strong texture. The sepaline cuo is orange externally, suffused with patches of brown. Within the color is grayish to pale yellowish, suffused with gray-bron toward the base, sometimes in paralell lines. A prominent, thickened, white band sretches across the middle from between the bases of the lateral sepals, The epichile of the lip is orbicular and smooth margines with the concavity filled with tall, smooth, radiating lamellae." Luer 1993
Synonyms Dracula medellinensis (Kraenzl.) Luer 1978; Masdevallia medellinensis Kraenzl. 1921; *Masdevallia radiosa Rchb.f. 1877
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as Masdevallia radiosa; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 as Masdevallia radiosa drawing not = Masdevallia?; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as Masdevallia radiosa; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 7 385 - 448 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1975 as Masdevallia radiosa photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Systematics of the Pleurothallidinae Vol 1 1986 drawing fide; Thesaurus Dracularum Vol 3 Luer, Escobar and Dalstroem 1990 watercolor/drawing fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 1 COS 1990 photo fide; The Illustratred Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon, 1992; Icones Pleurothallidinarum X Systematics of Dracula Luer 1993 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 61 #4 1997 photo fide; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007; Draculas Del Ecuador Pupulin, Merino and Medina 2009 photo fide; Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 photo good; Flora of Ecuador No 87 225[3] Orchidaceae Dodson & Luer 2010; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide; Orquideas del Valle de Aburra Medellin Colombia COS 2014 photo fide; Orchids, A Colombian Treasure Vol 1 Ortiz & Uribe 2014 drawing/photo fide;
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