Masdevallia delhierroi Luer & Hirtz 1993 SUBGENUS Cucullatia Luer 2002
Photo courtesy of Eric Hunt plant grown by the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers.
Photo by © Ellis Eyre.
TYPE Drawing by Carl Luer
Common Name del Hierro's Masdevallia [Ecuadorian discoverer of species - Current]
Flower Size 1 1/4" [3.2 cm]
Found in east central Ecuador at elevations of 1500 to 2600 meters as a small sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte with stout, erect, ramicauls enveloped by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, narrowly elliptic, subacute leaf that is narrowly cuneate below into the petiole and blooms in the fall on a stout, erect, 4 3/4" to 5 1/2" [12 to 15 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence arising from low on the ramicaul with a bract near the base and an inflated, broadly ovate, concave floral bract holding the flowers near leaf height.
Differs for the other members of the section Cucullatia which have a large, inflated, hood-like floral bract engulfing the pedidel, ovary and base of the sepaline tube. Also by its consistently pure yellow flowers with sepals that are smooth within
Synonyms Megema delhierroi (Luer & Hirtz) Luer 2006
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; A Treasure of Masdevallia Vol 23 Luer & Dalstroem 1998 watercolor/drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 68 No 12 1999 drawing fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 Dodson 2002 photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXV Systematics of Masdevallia Part Five Luer 2003 drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII Luer 2006 as Megema delhierroi; Orchidaceae Masdevallia and Affiliates Dodson & Luer 2009 as Megema delhierroi drawing fide; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide;
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