Kegeliella kupperi Mansf. 1934
Photo by © Rudolf Jenny and The Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Jany Renz Herbaria Website
Common Name Kupper's Kegeliella [German Botanical Garden Director 1900's]
Flower Size 1 1/4" [3 cm]
Text by Michael Götz
Kegeliella kupperi The habit of Kegeliella is rather similar to Gongora but somewhat smaller than these. K. kupperi has two-leaved, slightly compressed, angulate pseudobulbs that stand close together and are about 2,5 cm in height and some 2 cm in diameter. The leaves are 10 to 15 cm in length, are shiny olive green, ribbed and with dark red backsides. The pendant inflorescence emerges from the bottom of the pseudobulbs, has a length of about 8 to 12 cm, is loosely covered with brown hairs and carries some 4 to 8 flowers. These are triangular, cream-coloured and heavily marked and spotted with dark brown; the column is apple-green and makes an attractive contrast to the rest of the flower. They last about 1 to 2 weeks. I grow K. kupperi in a small basket warm to hot and with constant moisture, which they seem to require as they occur in rather wet forests on mountain ridges, low to the ground on mossy tree trunks and branches in Belize, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia at elevations of 100 to 1000 meters where they bloom in the summer with slightly musky scented flowers.
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946; AOS Bulletin Vol 28 No 2 1959 as Batemania yauyauperensis not!; AOS Bulletin Vol 28 No 3 1959 with correction for Vol 2; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Orquideologia Vol 14 No 1 1979; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 7 1992 drawing/photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 drawing fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 5 COS 1994 photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 37/38 pg 2309 - 2436 Brieger 1999 drawing fide/photo ok; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 44-45 pg 2763 - 2898 Brieger 2001; Orquideologia Vol 22 #2 2002 photo fide; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 10 2005 photo fide; Vanishing Beauty; Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 photo fide; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2006 drawing/photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 74 #2 2010 photo fide; Of Mice and Men Part 1 Jenny 2015 drawing/photo fide; Orchids A Colombian Treasure Vol 3 Ortiz & Uribe 2019 drawing/photo fide;
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