Lepanthes gargantua Rchb. f. 1856 SUBGENUS Lepanthes SECTION Lepanthes SUBSECTION Lepanthes SERIES Lepanthes
Flowers in situ Jardin Colombia 1/8/16
Leaf and Flowers in situ Jardin Colombia 1/8/16
Leaf and Flowers in situ Jardin Colombia 1/8/16
Photos by Jay Pfahl
Photo by Andreas Kay and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website
Photo by Patricia Harding
Drawing by Carl Luer
Common Name The Large Lepanthes [refers to the plant]
Flower Size .2" [5mm]
Found in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru as a medium to large sized [largest in the genus], cold growing epiphyte at elevations of 2600 to 3400 meters in wet cloud forests with erect, stout ramicauls enveloped basally by 11 to 16 microscopically scabrous lepanthiform sheaths carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, oblong-ovate, subacute to obtuse, acuminate leaf with the rounded base contracted into a petiole and blooms in the winter and spring on 1 to several, slender, simultaneous, congested, distichous, 3.2 to 4.4" [8 to 11 cm] long, including the .8 to 1.2" [2 to 3 cm] long peduncle, racemose, successively several, many flowered inflorescence arising from behind the leaf.
"Characterized by the habit that can produce one of the largest of the genus, but many plant only attain half the apparent maximum size. Thisck coarse roots support stout ramicauls that sometimes reach 20" [ 50 cm] long. The leaveds vary in size with the strength of the ramicaul, but large leaves 6" [15 cm] long are not rare. Yellow orange, flat flowers, sometimes in profusion, are produced on congested racemes behind the eleaf. The sepals are obtuse with short tails. The bilobes petals and bilaminate lip are not remarkably different from many others." Luer 1996
Although the smaller flowered L macrantha is similar, L gargantua has the petals with an oblong, rounded upper lobe without the apiculum between the lobes.
Synonyms Lepanthes pachyrhiza Luer & Hirtz 1987
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1854; Fieldiana Biology, Vol 33, 1st Supple. to the Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1970; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 2 COS 1991 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 10 1995 photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XIV Systematics of Draconanthes, Lepanthes subgenus Marsipanthes and subgenus Lepanthes of Ecuador Luer 1996 drawing fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Flora of Ecuador No 88 Lepanthes and affiliates Dodson & Luer 2011 drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXXII Luer 2012 drawing fide; Orchids A Colombian Treasure Vol 3 Ortiz & Uribe 2019 drawing/photo fide;
Checked to Luer's Drawing OK
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