Cranichis revoluta Hamer & Garay 1982 Ciliata Group 3
Photos by © Eric van den Berghe and The I Naturalist Website
TYPE drawing by © Hamer & Garay
Common Name or Meaning The Revolute Cranichis [refers to the revolute sidelobes of the flowers which are folded back and away and cannot be folded back forward without breaking]
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in at least Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua in ravines within pine oak forests and montane rain forests at elevations of 1400 to 1850 meters as a small to medium sized, cool growing terrestrial with 4, basal, elliptic to ovate, shortly acuminate, basally rounded below into the channeled, longly petiolate base leaves that blooms in the summer on a terminal, erect, peduncle 10.8 to 22.4" [27 to 56 cm] long, terete, glabrous, with 3 infundibuliform, oblong lanceolate, acute sheaths, rachis glabrous, cylindrical, 3.2 to 6" [8 to 15 cm] long, mostly simultaneously 40 to 60 flowered inflorescence with lanceolate, acuminate, somewhat transluscent, shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying non-resupinate, whitish flowers with coffee-red lines on the lip.
"This species is one of the largest Cranichis found in Mexico. It is closely related to C. ciliata , which usually has 2 leaves, a shorter raceme, glandular-pilose scape, longer-ciliate petals, a lip without a conspicuous median furrow, with green (not brown-red) lines, involute margins, and rostrate column. It is similar also to C. apiculata , from which is easily distinguished by the broader leaf blades, ciliate (vs. smooth) petals, rounded (vs. characteristically apiculate) lip apex, and more profusely branched lateral veins of the lip. Mexican specimens of C. revoluta have smaller floral measures than those reported from Nicaraguan specimens. Cranichis notata was separated from C. revoluta by its less folded lip base, shorter column and smaller flowers; the Mexican plants seem to have the lip base as folded as C. revoluta but in flower size they approach C. notata." Hagsater & Soto 2002
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
*Icones Plantarum Tropicarum Plate 641 Hamer & Garay 1982 drawing fide;
Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 drawing fide;
Icones Orchidacearum 5-6 Orchids of Mexico parts 2-3: plate 545 Hagsater & Soto 2002 drawing fide;
The Orchids of Mexico Hagsater, Soto etal 2005;
Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018
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