Masdevallia cucullata Lindl. 1846 SUBGENUS Cucullatia Luer 2002 TYPE For the SUBGENUS
Photo by © Lourens Grobler
Photo by © Jorge Mario Munera
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Common Name The Cowl-Carrying Masdevallia [refers to the large cucullate floral bract]
Flower Size 2" [5 cm]
Found in Colombia and Ecuador in the understory of the canopy where it gets plenty of shade at elevations of 1600 to 2700 meters as a small to medium sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte from with stout, erect ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, coriaceous, erect, petiolate, elliptical, subacute to obtuse leaf that is cuneate below into the channeled petiole where it blooms in the spring and summer on an erect, stout, solitary flowered, 12" [30 cm] long inflorescence arising from high or near the middle of the ramicaul carrying a tubular bract below the middle and a large, broadly cucullate floral bract with a hooded flower held at leaf height.
Synonyms Megema cucullata (Lindl.) Luer 2006
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Beitrage Zur Orchideenkunde Von Colombia 27:24 Schlechter 1924; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986 drawing fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 2 COS 1991 photo fide; Masdevallia's in Kleur Vol 1 P M Oversteegen, Eisses & A P Sijm 2001 photo fide;; Orchid Digest Vol 66 #1 2002 drawing fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 Dodson 2002 photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXV Systematics of Masdevallia Part Five Luer 2003 drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII Luer 2006 as Megema cucullata; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007; Orchidaceae Masdevallia and Affiliates Dodson & Luer 2009 as Megema cucullata drawing fide; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 79 #1 2015 photo fide;
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