!Hispaniella henekenii (R.H. Schomb. ex Lindl.) Braem 1980
Photo © Eerika Schulz and her Flickr Orchid Photo Website
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Common Name Heneken's Hispaniella [German Original Collector of Species 1800's] - The Bee Orchid - In Dominican Republic Cacatica
Flower Size 3/4" [2 cm]
This is a monotypic, minature sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte from Haiti and the Dominican Republic that is found in dry brush and cacti in very dry subtropical forests at elevations of sea level to 150 meters with a thin creepimg rhizome, and very short, leafy stems carrying distichous, bilaterally compressed, falcate, elliptic-lanceolate, acute leaves with erose-denticulate margins that blooms on an axillary, racemose, erect-arcuate, to 12" +[to 30 cm +] long, fractiflex, laxly few flowered inflorescence with triangular-lanceolate, acute bracts occuring in late winter through the summer. The inflorescence in this species puts out successive [around 15] flowers over many months and actually increases in length after each old flower has dropped, then making another, so don't remove inflorescence unless you are sure there are no more buds coming.
This species is an imitator, as the flowers have a definite insect look to them [it actually appears more as a spider to us but to a male bee it has a female appearance, or so we assume], hence it's common name the "Bee Orchid".
Mounting this species on a small stick and keeping in a bright location with a daily light misting but not much water as the plant likes to stay dry.
Synonyms *Oncidium henekenii R.H. Schomb. ex Lindl. 1855; Tolumnia henekenii (R.H. Schomb. ex Lindl. ) Nir 1994
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909 as Oncidium henekenii; Das Pflanzenreich Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922 as O henekenii; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 11 1979 as Oncidium henekenii photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 44 No 3 1980 as Oncidium henekenii photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 10 1992 as Tolumnia henekenii photo as Tolumnia henekeni; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 57 No 4 1993 as Oncidium henekenii photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 33 - 36 2057 - 2308 Brieger 1997 drawing/photo fide; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; Orchid Digest Vol 71 No 1 2007 as Tolumnia henekenii; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 #4 2009 as Tolumnia henkenii photo fide; Orchid Flora of the Greater Antilles Ackerman 2014 as Tolumnia henekenii
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