!Leptotes bicolor Lindley 1833
Photo by © Jay Pfahl
Photo by Joseph Dougherty
Photo by © Lourens Grobler
LATE
and EARLY 
Common Name Bicolored Leptotes
Flower Size 1 1/2 to 2" [3.5 to 5 cm]
A beautiful, miniature, warm growing epiphyte from Brazil and Paraguay in subtropical rainforest and coastal mountains at elevations of 500 to 900 meters with terete pencil-like psuedobulbs covered basally by several membraneous sheaths and has a single, apical, erect or spreading, subcylindric, acute, deeply grooved dorsally, shiny, dark green leaf, and large, 1 to 3, successively opening, fragrant vanilla scented flowers on a 3/4" [2 cm] long, inflorescence shorter than and arising from the base of the leaves, occuring in the late winter or early spring.
This miniature orchid grows very well attached to tree fern with bright light and humid conditions.
In Brazil extracts from this plant's fruit capsules have been used to flavor milk, ice cream and sherbert exactly as we use vanilla.
Synonyms Bletia bicolor Rchb.f ?; Leptotes bicolor var. glaucophylla Hook. 1839; Leptotes glaucophylla Hoffmannsegg 1843; Leptotes serrulata Lindl. 1838; Tetramicra bicolor [Lindley] Benth. 1883; Tetramicra serrulata Nichols 1887
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 photo fide; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing fide; Iconografia de Orchidaceae Do Brasil Hoehne 1949 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 26 No 2 1957; AOS Bulletin Vol 26 No 5 1957 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 28 No 5 1959; AOS Bulletin Vol 28 No 7 1959 photo fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #11 1967 photo fide; Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 drawing fide; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 47 No 6 1978; AOS Bulletin Vol 49 No 6 1980 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 50 No 3 1981 drawing; AOS Bulletin Vol 54 No 6 1985 photo fide; Cattleyas and Their Relatives Withner Vol 3 1990 photo fide; Cattleyas and Their Relatives Withner Vol 3 1990 as L serrulata drawing ok; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 7 1992 photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 photo fide; Orchids of the High Mountain Atlantic Rainforest in SE Brazil Warren & Miller 1994; Orchid Australia Vol 11 No 6 1999 photo; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 42 - 43 pg 2626 - 2762 Brieger 2001 as L serrulata; AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 7 2004 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum Brasilienses II Plate 160 Castro Neto 2006 drawing/photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 #4 2009 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 No 5 2009 photo fide; AOS Bulletin vol 78 No 8 2009 photo fide; AOS Bulletin vol 78 No 11 2009 photo fide; Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #11 2011 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 81 #1 2012 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 78 #1 2014 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #2 2016; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #3 2016 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #4 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #5 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #3 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #4 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #6 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 # 11 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #5 2019 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 89 #2 2020 photo fide
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