Masdevallia hercules Luer & Andreetta 1988 [1989] SUBGENUS Cucullatia Luer 2002
Photos by © Jay Pfahl
TYPE Drawing by Carl Luer
Common Name The Hercules Flower Masdevallia
Flower Size 2" [5 cm] wide
Found in southeastern Colombia and Ecuador on the eastern slopes of the Andes at elevations of 1300 to 2200 meters as a small sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte with stout, erect ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 long, inflated tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, thickly coriaceous, elliptical, subacute leaf that is cuneate below into the channeled petiole that blooms in the fall on an erect, stout, single flowered inflorescence arising from above the middle of the ramicaul and a bract at the base and a green, inflated, cucullate floral bract enveloping the pedicel and ovary.
Synonyms Megema hercules (Luer & Andreetta) Luer 2006
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 6 COS 1998 photo fide; Masdevallia's in Kleur Vol 1 P M Oversteegen, Eisses & A P Sijm 2001 photo 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 hercules ; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007; Orchidaceae Masdevallia and Affiliates Dodson & Luer 2009 as Megema hercules photo/drawing fide; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide;
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