!Brassavola cucullata [L.] R.Br. 1813 SUBGENUS Brassavola SECTION Brassavola

Plant and Flower

Photo by © Milan Vágner

Another Flower B appendiculata if accepted

Photo by Jay Pfahl

Flowering plant in situ in Mexico B appendiculata if accepted

Photo by Weyman Bussey

TYPE Drawing of B cuspidata

TYPE Drawing by Swanson

to to

Common Name Hooded Brassavola

Flower Size 7" [17.5 cm]

Found in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, French Guiana, Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru of coastal rainforests at elevations up to 1800 meters as a medium sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte or lithophyte with erect to ascending, slender, terete, jointed stems enveloped by white, scarious, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, linear-subulate, terete, fleshy coriaceous leaf that blooms at most any time of the year on a short to 8" [20 cm] long peduncle that is borne at the junction of the single leaf and terete stem and carrying musty-soap scented flowers. One to two flowered, epiphytic plant that smells somewhat skunky at night, grows best mounted on wood.

Flowers that appear later in it's season and exposed to a cold snap will have a redder appearance.

This is the type species for the genus.

B appendiculata A.Rich. & Galeotti 1845 has been proposed for similar orchids occuring in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua which have a larger mid lobe to the lip but this seems to be too little to separate them from the larger population so I have kept them together.

Synonyms Bletia cucullata (L.) Rchb. f. 1861; Bletia cucullata var. cuspidata (Hook.) Rchb.f. 1862; Brassavola appendiculata A.Rich. & Galeotti 1845; Brassavola cucullata [L.]R.Br. var cuspidata [Hkr.] LIndley 1887; Brassavola cucullata [L.]R.Br. var elegans Schlechter 1919; Brassavola cuspidata Hooker 1839; Brassavola elongata Hort. 1954; Brassavola odorattissima Regel 1852; Cymbidium cucullatum Sw. 1799; *Epidendrum cucullatum L. 1763

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

Sp. Pl., ed. 2.: 1350 L. 1763 as Epidendrum cucullatum;

Nova Acta Regiae Soc. Sci. Upsal., ser. 2, 6: 73 Sw. 1799 as Cymbidium cucullatum;

Bot. Mag. 66: t. 3722 Hooker 1839 as B cuspidata;

Bot. Mag. 66: t. 3722 Hooker 1839 as B cuspidata drawing fide

Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 3, 3: 23 A Rich & Galeotti 1845 as B appendiculata;

Gartenflora 1: 325 Regel 1852 as B odoratissima

Bonplandia 4: 216 Rchb.f 1856 as B cuspidata;

Ann. Bot. Syst. 6: 433 Rchb.f 1862 as Bletia cucullata;

Xenia Orchid. 2: 66 Rchb.f 1862 as Bletia cucullata;

Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909;

Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915;

Orchis 13: 46 Schlechter 1919

Orchis 13: 46 Schlechter 1919 as B cucullata var elegans;

Flore Descriptive des Antilles Francaises H. Stehle 1939;

Orchids of Malaya Holtum 1953;

Orchids of Guatemala & Belize Ames & Correwll 1954/85;

Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960;

Venezuelan Orchids Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1961 drawing fide;

Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 36 No 9 1967;

Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970 drawing fide;

Flora of the Lesser Antilles Garay & Sweet 1974 drawing fide;

Las Orquedias De El Salvador Hamer 1974 drawing/photo fide;

Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 10 576 - 632 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 drawing fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 47 No 6 1978 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 5 1979;

Orquídea (Mexico City), n.s., 7[3]: 1979;

Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide;

Las Orquideas De El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 drawing fide;

Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Dunsterville & Gary 1979;

Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 620 Hamer 1982 drawing fide;

Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1982;

Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 McVaugh 1985;

An Introdution to the Orchids of Mexico Wiard 1987 photos fide;

Selbyana Vol 10: 50 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 drawing fide;

Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide;

The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb, Laurent 1992 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 12 1993 photo fide;

Orchid Digest Vol 58 No 2 1994 drawing fide;

Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa rica and Panama Dressler 1993;

Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995;

An Orchid Flora Of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Ackerman 1995;

Venezuela; Paraiso de Orquideas Romero 1997 photo fide;

The Cattleyas and Their Relatives Vol V Withner 1998 drawing/photo fide;

Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide;

Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide;

Orchidaceae Antillanae Nir 2000; Harvard Pap. Bot. 5 #2: Carnevali etal 2001;

Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 42 - 43 pg 2626 - 2762 Brieger 2001;

Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glenn 2002;

AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 5 2003 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 6 2003 photo fide;

Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003 drawing fide;

Algunas Orquideas de Oaxaca Suarez 2004 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 5 2005 photo fide;

Flora's Orchids Nash & La Croix 2005;

AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 10 2006 photo fide;

Orchid Digest vol 71 #4 Oct, Nov, Dec 2007 drawing/photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 9 2008 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin vol 78 No 7 2009 photo fide;

Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide;

Orchid Digest Vol 75 #1 2011 photo fide;

Orchids of French Guiana Szatchetko, Veyret etal 2012 drawing/photo fide;

Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 photo fide;

Algunas Orquideas de Mexico Tomo 1 Suarez 2013 photo fide;

Orchid Flora of the Greater Antilles Ackerman 2014;

Orchids, A Colombian Treasure Vol 1 Ortiz & Uribe 2014 drawing/photo fide;

Orchid Digest Vol 80 #2 2016;

AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #12 2016 photo fide;

Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #10 2019 photo fide;

Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia Vol IV: 500 Szlatchetko & Kolanowska 2023 drawing/photo fide;

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