Oncidium cheirophorum Rchb. f. 1852 SECTION Rostrata
Photos by © Jay PFahl
Photos by © Milan Vágner
Plant and Flowers in situ Costa Rica
Photo by © Wilfried Löderbusch
to 
Common Name The Hand Carrying Oncidium - The Colombia Buttercup
Flower Size less than 3/4" [less than 1.5 cm]
Found from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia as a dwarf, cool to cold growing epiphyte in lower montane rainforests at elevations of 1000 to 2500 meters often in full sun on larger branches with smooth, lightly brown stained, pyriform, laterally compressed psuedobulbs with a single apical, thin, elliptic-lanceolate leaf that blooms in the fall and winter on a slender, erect to arching, to 12" [30 cm] long, densely many flowered panicle arising on a mature pseudobulb that has triangular bracts with fragrant citrus to lemon scented, waxy flowers.
CAUTION Kew keeps Oncidium exauriculatum (Hamer & Garay) R. Jiménez 1992 as a synonym and variety of Onc cheirophorum but I, like R Jimenez, feel that it is substantially different and so I have kept its species status. Please go to that species to see what makes them different.
Synonyms Oncidium dielsianum Kraenzl. 1922; Oncidium macrorhynchum Kraenzl. 1922
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Epidendra Website; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1854 drawing fide; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 photo ok; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing ok; Das Pflanzanreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922 as Oncidium dielsianum drawing fide; Das Pflanzanreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922; Das Pflanzanreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922 as O macrorhynchum drawing fide; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 82. Panama Schlechter 1922; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 258. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; AOS Bulletin Vol 37 # 6 1968; Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 2 Hamer 1974 as O cheirophorum var exauriculatum = See O exauriculatum; AOS Bulletin Vol 50 No 8 1981 photo fid; Las Orquedias de El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 900 Dodson 1983 as O cheirophorum var exauriculatum drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1240 Dodson 1985 drawing fide; ORQUIDEA (Méx. ) 10 (1) ABRIL 1986 drawing fide; Orquídea (Méx.) 12(2): 269-276. R Jimenez 1992 photo/drawing fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 photo fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1468 Atwood 1992 drawing fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 33 - 36 2057 - 2308 Brieger 1997 drawing fide/photo good; Fieldiana Biology, Flora Costa Ricensis Family # 39 Orchidaceae, subtribes Maxillariinae and Oncidiinae Atwood & Mora 1999 drawing fide; Orchid Australia Vol 12 No 5 2000 photo; Australian Orchid Review Vol 66 No 2 2001 photo; The Pictoral Encyclopedia of Oncidium Zelenko 2002; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Orquideologia Vol. 23 No 2 2004; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 11 2005 photo fide; Oncidium Vol 2 Koniger 2005 drawing/photo fide; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 1 Morales 2009 photo fide; Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 photo fide; Algunas Orquideas de Mexico Tomo 1 Suarez 2013 as O exauriculatum photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #2 2016; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 2 Lacaena to Pteroglossa Pupulin 2020 photo fide
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