Oncidium loefgrenii Cogn. 1905 SECTION Concoloria

Flower Closeup Photo by Dalton Holland Baptista

to LATE to EARLY

Common Name Loefgren's Oncidium [Swedish Botanist in Brazil late 1800's early 1900's]

Flower Size 3/8" [1 cm]

Found in southern Brazil in cool mountains and warm dry savannahs at elevations of 1100 to 2100 meters as a miniature sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte with clustered, slightly flattened, strongly ribbed, purple spotted pseudobulbs partially enveloped by 1 or 2 basal, leaf-bearing sheaths and carry 2 apical, glossy, deep green, narrow, strap-like, conduplicate below into the petiole-like base leaves with a prominent mid-vein that blooms in the late fall through early winter on a branched, 6" [15 cm] long, pendant, several, succesively opening flowered, racemose inflorescence. Mount this orchid on tree fern or wood to accomodate the pendant inflorescence and give moderate to heavy shade, high humidity, a dry winter rest .

This species, Onc raniferum and O hookeri are all very similar and according to Brazilians sources are only separated if the area of collection is known as differences are very small and are mostly vegatative. Newer references refer them all as synonyms of Oncidium raniferum but I have left them and their synonyms separate for now.

Synonyms Carenidium loefgrenii (Cogn.) Baptista 2006; Coppensia loefgrenii (Cogn.) F.Barros & V.T.Rodrigues 2010; Gomesa loefgrenii (Cogn.) M.W.Chase & N.H.Williams 2009; Menezesiella loefgrenii (Cogn.) V.P. Castro & Chiron 2006; Oncidium mellifluum Kraenzl. 1922

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Das Pflanzanreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922 as O mellifluum; Das Pflanzanreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922; Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 2 Pabst & Dungs 1977 drawing fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 as O hookeri photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 as O raniferum photo fide; Orchids of the High Mountain Atlantic Rainforest in SE Brazil Warren & Miller 1994; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 33 - 36 2057 - 2308 Brieger 1997 photo good; The Pictoral Encyclopedia of Oncidium Zelenko 2002 Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 No 2 2009 photo; Orchids of Brazil Vol 1 Oncidinae Baptista, Harding & Neto 2011 as Coppensia ranifera photo fide

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