Chysis bractescens Lindley 1840
Photo by © Jay Pfahl
Photo by © Eric Hunt
Photos by © Milan Vágner
to 
Common Name The Bracteate Chysis
Flower Size 3" [7.5 cm]
Found in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua on trees and occasionally on calcareous rocks in humid forests at elevations of 800 to 1500 meters as a large sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte withfat, fusiform, pendulous canes concealed by white, scarious sheaths and carries several apical, semideciduous, linear or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, undulate leaves that bear flowers from the base of a new growth as it appears in the spring with a pendulous to arching, robust, 12" [30 cm] long, racemose inflorescence with 1"+ [2.5 cm] +, foliaceous, ovate or acuminate, concave bracts that carries up to 10 waxy, fragrant flowers.
This species requires a drier winter to insure blooming, and is best grown mounted on tree fern or in baskets to accommodate the pendant canes.
Synonyms Chysis aurea Lindley var bractescens [Lindley]P.H.Allen 1955; Chysis makoyi Heynh. 1846; Thorwaldsenia speciosa Liebm. 1844; Thorvaldsenia speciosa Liebm. 1844
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Edwards's Bot. Reg. 26(Misc.): 61 Lindley 1840;
Bot. Not. 1844: 103 Liebm. 1844 as Thorsvaldsenia speciosa;
Alph. Aufz. Gew.: 143 Heynh 1846 as C makoyi
Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 photo fide; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing fide;
Orchids of Guatemala and Belize Ames & Correll 1952/65/85
Orchids of Guatemala and Belize Ames & Correll 1952/65/85 drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin 24 [10]: 665 1955 as C aurea var bractescens
AOS Bulletin Vol 26 No 2 1957;
AOS Bulletin Vol 26 No 5 1957 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 30 No 9 1961; AOS Bulletin Vol 31 No 7 1962 photo fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as C aurea var bractescens; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 No 6 1967 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 1 1970 as C aurea var bractescens photo fide; Las Orquedeas de El Salvador Hamer 1974; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 15 881 - 944 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1984 photo fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 1206 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 55 No 8 1986 photo fide; Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 drawing fide; An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1992; The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb, Launert 1992 photo fide; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide;
Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glen 2001; Algunas Orquideas de Oaxaca Suarez 2004 photo fide; Flora's Orchids Nash & La Croix 2005; Orchids of Mexico Hagsater, Soto etal 2005 photo fide; The World's Most Beautiful Orchids Allikas & Nash 2005 photo fide; Genera Orchidacearum Tropicarum Vol 4 Epidendroideae Part 1 Pridgeon, Cribb Chase and Rasmusen 2005 drawing/photo fide; Orchids of Venezuela; Icones Orchidacearum fascile 10 plate 1012 Hagsater & Soto 2008 drawing fide; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 photo fide; Algunas Orquideas de Mexico Tomo 1 Suarez 2013 photo fide; Orchids of Tropical America an introduction and guide Meisel 2014 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 84 #8 2015 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #12 2017 photo fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018; Orchid Digest Vol 83 #3 2019 photo fide;
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