Dracula vespertilio (Rchb. f.) Luer 1978 SUBGENUS Dracula SECTION Dracula SUBSECTION Costatae
PhotoS by © Jay Pfahl
Photo by © Danny Lentz, plant grown by Atlanta Botanical Garden
Drawing by © Carl Luer
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Common Name The Bat-Shaped Dracula
Flower Size 4 2/5" [to 12 cm] long
Found from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Colombia and Ecuador on mossy trees in montane cloud forests at elevations of 1400 to 2000 meters as a miniature sized, cool growing epiphyte with a short ramicaul enveloped basally by scarious sheaths and carrying a single, apical, elliptical, obtuse, gradually narrowing below into a conduplicate, channeled base leaf that blooms in the fall and winter on a descending, 4" [10 cm] long, single [rarely 2] flowered inflorescence with a tubular, just shorter to longer that the pedicel floral bract holding the giant flower below the leaf.
Synonyms *Masdevallia vespertilio Rchb. f. 1873
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 7 1979 drawing/photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum X Systematics of Dracula Luer 1993 drawing fide; Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 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; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 1 Dodson 1993 Drawing fide; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Orchid Digest Vol 61 #4 1997 photo fide; Australian Orchid Review Vol 65 No 6 2000 photo; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 drawing fide; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007; Orchid Digest Vol 72 No 4 2008 photo fide; Draculas Del Ecuador Pupulin, Merino and Medina 2009 photo fide; Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 photo fide; Flora of Ecuador No 87 225[3] Orchidaceae Dodson & Luer 2010 drawing fide; An Illustrated Field Guide to the Orchids of the Yotoco Forest Reserve Colombia Kolanowska, Escobar, Sanchez & Szlachetko 2011 drawing fide; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #10 2019 photo fide; Orchids, A Colombian Treasure Vol 1 Ortiz & Uribe 2014 drawing/photo fide;
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