!Erycina echinata (Kunth) Lindl. 1853
Photos by © Weyman Bussey
LATE
and EARLY
Common Name The Hedgehog Erycina
Flower Size 3/4" [2 cm]
Endemic to the Pacific coast of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, Guerrero and Oaxaca states of Mexico in deciduous or thorn forests at elevations of 30 to 800 meters occuring on deciduous trees hanging by the roots in hot lowlands with long dry spells through out the winter, as a small sized, warm growing twig epiphyte needing a mount or small wood branch with clustered, oval, bronze green, stalked pseudobulbs with basal sheaths carrying to 5, narrow-oblong, acuminate, 2 ranked, leaves with up to 4 sheathed and one apical that blooms in the late winter and early spring on an arching to pendant, axillary, to 16" [40 cm] long, fractiflex, racemose to branched inflorescence, with several [5 to 9], cup-shaped, fragrant [fresh grass] flowers, and having several, lanceolate, rigid bracts along its length that arise from near the base of the pseudobulb.
This species requires a longer mid-winter dry rest than the preceding species. Best tied to a cork or tree fern mount, given warm to hot temperatures and while growing given ample water and light shade. As growth slows in the late fall stop watering, but an occcasional misting and an increase in light is reccomended.
Synonyms Erycina major Schltr. 1918; *Oncidium echinatum Kunth 1815
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Das Pflanzanreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922 drawing Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; AOS bulletin Vol 39 No 1 1970 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 50 No 11 1981 drawing fide; Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 McVaugh 1985; ORQUIDEA (Méx. ) 10 (1) ABRIL 1986 photo/drawing fide; An Introdution to the Orchids of Mexico Wiard 1987 photo fide; Schlechteriana Vol 2 No 3 1991 photo fide; Schlechteriana Vol 2 No 4 1991 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 6/569 1992 photo/drawing fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 drawing/photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 1 1995 photo ok; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 33 - 36 2057 - 2308 Brieger 1997photo fide; The Pictoral Encyclopedia of Oncidium Zelenko 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 #4 2009 photo fide; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #3 2016 as Oncidium echinatum drawing fide;
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