Encyclia hircina (A. Rich.) Acuña 1939
Photos by © Soto Calvo/Type Drawing by A Richard
Common Name The Male Goat-Scented Encyclia [refers to the strong animal like scent of the flower]
Flower Size .8 to 1" [2 to 2.5 cm]
Found in Isla de Juventud province of Cuba in scrub adjacent to the coastal mangrove forest at elevations near sea level as a small sized, hot growing epiphyte with ovoid, attenuate towards the apex pseudobulbs enveloped by scarious, deciduous sheaths and carrying 2, apical, erect, narrowly oblong, coriaceous, subacute apically, subcrenate dorsally leaf that blooms in the summer on a terminal, paniculate, 12 to 16" [30 to 40 cm] long, many flowered inflorescence with shorter than the pedicel floral bracts.
"Richard also states that this species appears to be closely related to Encyclia richardiana Seijo, Esperon and Sauleda but distinct even though the pseudobulbs and leaves are identical to Epidendrum richardiana, the flowers of Epidendrum hircinum are larger and of a cinnamon-yellow color; the sepals are concolor without veins, the middle lobe is elliptic and the callus is like a raised fingernail. It also has a scent similar to that of a male goat." Soto Calvo, Esperon & Sauleda 2018
Synonyms *Epidendrum hircinum A.Rich. 1850
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Hist. Fis. Cuba, Bot. 11: 236 A Rich. 1850 as Epidendrum hircinum;
* Bol. Estaçión Exp. Agron. Santiago de las Vegas 60: 74 Acuña 1939;
New World Orchid. Nomencl. Notes 31: 2 Soto Calvo, Esperon & Sauleda 2018 photos/drawing fide;
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