Cyrtochilum cordatum (Lindl.) Kraenzl. 1917 SECTION Eucyrtochilum Kranzlin Photo by © Guido Deburghgraeve

Common Name The Heart-Shaped Cyrtochilum [refers to the lip]

Flower Size 2.2" [5.5 cm]

Found only in Peru in wet montane forests at elevations of 1500 to 2700 meters as a small to medium sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial on steep slopes covered with small trees, bushes and grass with narrowly ovate to conical pseuobulbs enveloped completely by several pairs of imbricate, leaf-bearing sheaths [these may be longer than the apical leaves] and carrying two, apical, elliptic-lanceolate, acute, conduplicate and narrowing below into the petiole-like base leaves that blooms in the fall on an axillary, twining, to 60" [150 cm] long, overall, paniculate, rachis to 15" [37.5 cm] long, with 2 to 6, lateral, 6" [25 cm] long branches 4 to 6 flowered each, that may have secondary branches, several to many flowered inflorescence carrying thin, waxy flowers.

CAUTION Not to be confused with Odontoglossum/ Lemboglossum/ Rhynchostele cordata that occurs from Mexico to Venezuela.

Many references put this one and C pastorelli as synomonous with C cordatum taking precedence but C pastorelli has a spine at either side of the column while C cordatum has a fringe as well as other differnces in the lateral sepals, the calli on the lip and the lip's overall shape. As of this moment C pastorellii is a synonym of C cordatum.

Synonyms *Oncidium cordatum Lindl. 1838

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Das Pflanzenreich Odontoglossum/Oncidium Kranzlin 1922 drawing hmm; Orchids of Peru Vol 4 Schweinfurth 1961 as Oncidium coraatum; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Peru Plate 0138 Dodson & Bennett 1989 as O pastorellii drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 335 Bennett & Christenson 1995 as Oncidium cordatum drawing fide; Lindleyana Vol 16 No 2 2001; The Pictoral Encyclopedia of Oncidium Zelenko 2002 drawing fide; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium/Odontoglossum alliance Bakers 2006; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orquideas del Peru Freuler 2010 photo fide

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