!Rudolfiella aurantiaca [Lindley] Hoehne 1943

Photo by © Maarten Sepp

Common Name The Orange Rudolfiella

Flower Size about 1 1/2" [3.4 cm]

This medium sized, caespitose, epiphytic species is found in Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, the Guyanas and Trinidad in tropical wet forests at elevations of 100 to 1500 meters on tree trunks and large branches and is a hot to cool , humid grower needing moderate shade and copious water while growing and then tapering off after the pseudobulbs have achieved maturity. This orchid has sub-orbicular, compressed, rounded edges, pale green, spotted with purple brown, sulcate pseudobulbs carrying a single, apical, plicate, green occasionally spotted purple-brown, acute, gradually narrows below into the furrowed, elongate, petiolate base leaf that blooms on a basal, erect to drooping, dark puce, to 8" [20 cm] long, lateral, very lax, several [7 to 15] flowered inflorescence with 2 distant dark grey brown bracts arising on a mature pseudobulb and occurs in the spring in cultivations and fall in nature and holds the flowers just above the leaves.

Synonyms *Bifrenaria aurantiaca Lindley 1836; Lindleyella aurantiaca [Lindley]Schlechter 1914; Maxillaria aurantiaca (Lindl.) A.Rich. & Galeotti 1845; Schlechterella aurantiaca Hoehne 1944

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae Vol 3 Reichenbach 1896 as Bifrenaria aurantiaca drawing fide; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909 as Bifrenaria aurantiaca; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as Lindleyella aurantiaca; Beitrage Zur Orchideenkunde Von Colombia 27:87 Schlechter 1924 as Maxillaria aurantiaca; Iconografia de Orchidaceae Do Brasil Hoehne 1949 drawing fide; Flora Brasilica Vol XII VII 115-147 Hoehne 1953 drawing fide; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 as Bifrenaria aurantiaca drawing fide; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960 as Bifrenaria aurantiaca; AOS Bulletin Vol 31 No 1 1962 as Bifrenaria aurantiaca photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 33 #8 1964 as Bifrenaria aurantiaca ; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Flora de VenezuelaVolumen XV Part 4 Foldats 1970 as Bifrenaria aurantiaca drawing fide; Orchidaceae Braziliense Band II Pabst & Dungs 1977 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as Bifrenaria aurantiaca drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 49 No 2 1980 as Bifrenaria aurantiaca photo fide; The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986 photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 174 Bennett & Christenson 1993 drawing ok; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 4 COS 1992 photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen lieferung 29 1777 - 1840 Brieger 1994 drawing fide/photo not; AOS Bulletin Vol 65 No 11 1996 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003 drawing ok; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 5 Dodson 2004 photo fide; Orchid Species Of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orquideas de Roirama Luz & Franco 2012 photo fide; Lankesteriana 19(3) 2019 drawing fide

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