Macradenia brassavolae Rchb.f 1852
Photos by © Jay Pfahl
Common Name or Meaning The Brassavola-Like Macradenia
Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]
Found in Chiapas and southern Quintana Roo states of Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela as a miniature to small sized, hot growing epiphytic species found on trees in low wet forests at or near sea level to 300 meters from with clustered, pyriform-cylindric, slightly compressed, sulcate pseudobulbs carrying a single apical, narrowly oblong-oblanceolate, subacute, coriaceous leaf that blooms in the spring with a pendant, to 12" [30 cm] long, racemose, many flowered inflorescence arising from a mature pseudobulb with sweetly fragrant flowers. This species needs to be mounted on treefern or cork and kept moderately shaded with high humidity with more water while in growth and a little less as the psuedobulb matures.
Synonyms Macradenia brassavolae var. albiflora Senghas & Seeger 1996; Macradenia modesta [Rolfe]Rolfe 1896; Serrastylis modesta Rolfe 1894
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Lankester's Epidendra Website CR; Bot. Zeit. (Berlin) 10: 734. 1852.; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as M modesta; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 6 1958; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 photo ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 35 No 5 1966 photo fide; Venezuelan Orchids Vol 5 Dunsterville & Garay 1966 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 1 1970 photo as M modesta; Flora de Venezuela Volumen XV Part 5 Foldats 1970 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 136 Dodson 1980 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1032 Dodson 1984 drawing fide; Orchids from The Coast Of Ecuador Arosemana, Jurado, Estrada and Konanz 1988 photo fide; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 2 COS 1991 photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 32 1977 - 2056 Brieger 1996 drawing good/photo fide; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 as Kegeliella atropilosa photo fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 2 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003 drawing ok; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003 drawing fide; Orquideologia Vol 24 #1 2005 photo ok; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium/Odontoglossum Alliance Bakers 2006; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2006 drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum fascile 10 plate 1042 Hagsater & Soto 2008 drawing fide; Orquideologia Vol 27 #2 2010 photo fide; Orquideologia Vol 28 #2 2011 photo ok; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 photo fide; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 2 Lacaena to Pteroglossa Pupulin 2020 photo fide
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