Nidema boothii (Lindl.) Schltr. 1922
Photo by © Eric Hunt
Photo by © Jay Pfahl
Photo by © Francis J Quesada-Pallares
Common Name Booth's Nidema [English Gardener 1800's]
Flower Size about 1" [about 2.2 cm]
A small sized, epiphytic, hot to cool growing orchid found in Mexico to Panama as well as Cuba and Surinam in treetops of wet tropical forests from sealevel to 1500 meters with clavate or fusiform, slightly compressed pseudobulbs partially enveloped basally by a few scarious leafless sheaths and carrying 1 or rarely 2 apical, linear, obtuse, shiny dark green, basally conduplicate leaves that blooms with fragrant flowers in the spring on an erect, to 6" [15 cm] long, laxly few flowered inflorescence with scarious brown bracts arising from the apex of a newly emerging pseudobulb.
This species although rambling in growth habit can be potted, but mounting on tree fern works as well if given hot to cool temperatures, bright light, and lots of water while growing and a lessening in the winter.
Synonyms Epidendrum auritum Lindl 1843; Epidendrum lindenianum A.Rich. & Galeotti 1845; Dinema paleaceum Lindl. 1840; Encyclia paleacea (Rchb. f.) Lemée 1955; Epidendrum auritum Lindl. 1843; Epidendrum boothii (Lindl.) L.O. Williams 1939; Epidendrum paleaceum (Lindl.) Rchb. f. 1866; Epidendrum palaceum (Rchb. f.) Rchb. f. 1866; *Maxillaria boothii Lindl. 1838; Nidema paleacea (Lindl.) Acuña 1939
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1856 as Epidendrum auritum; Refugium Botanicum Reichenbach 1869 as Epidendrum paleaceum drawing fide; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909 as Epidendrum paleaceum; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 43. Panama Schlechter 1922 as N boothii var triandrum; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 45. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 130. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 220. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936 as Epidendrum paleaceum; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946 as Epidendrum boothii; Ceiba Vol 5 No 1 L O Williams 1956 as Epidendrum boothii; AOS Bulletin Vol 30 No 9 1961 as Epidendrum auritum; AOS Bulletin Vol 31 No 3 1962 as Epidendrum boothii; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as Epidendrum boothii; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970 as Epidendrum boothii; Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 1 Hamer 1974 as Epidendrum boothii drawing/photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 5 1979; Orquídea (Mexico City), n.s., 7[3]: 1979; Las Orquedias de El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 as Epidendrum boothii drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 884 Dodson 1983 drawing fide; An Introdution to the Orchids of Mexico Wiard 1987 photo fide; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 photo fide; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide; Harvard Pap. Bot. 5 #2: Carnevali etal. 2001; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 76 No 3 2007 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 79 #1 2010 photo fide; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 photo fide; 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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
