Cranichis engelii Rchb.f. 1876
Drawing by Padre Pedro Ortiz Valdivieso
Drawing by Dodson
Drawing and Herbarium specimen by © The Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Jany Renz Herbaria
Common Name Engel's Cranichis
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in northwestern Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador in wet upper montane forests at elevations around 1400 to 2900 meters as a miniature sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with 2 to 3, basal, in a rosette, ovate to elliptic, distinctly cordate, abruptly acuminate, gradually narrowing below into the cuneate, then petiolate, canaliculate base leaves that blooms at most any time of the year on a terminal, scapose, erect, rather slender, glabrous below, sparsely pubescent above, 14" [35 cm] long, loosely many flowered, racemose inflorescence with lanceolate, acuminate, half the length of the ovary floral bracts.
Distinguished by the non-foliaceous peduncle, the green leaves, the ciliate margins of the petals, the glabrous ovary, the cochleate lip, the disc with the median nerve unbranched and as long or shorter than the lateral branched nerves that extend to the margin.
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora Brasilica Vol XII II 13-43 Hoehne 1945; Flora de Venezuela Volumen XV Primera Parte Foldats 1969; Flora of Ecuador No 9 225[1] Garay 1978; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 421 Dodson 1989 drawing fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 1 Dodson 1993 drawing fide; Flora Of Ecuador # 76 225[2] Dodson & Luer 2005; Orchids, A Colombian Treasure Vol 1 Ortiz & Uribe 2014 drawing/photo fide
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