Sarcoglottis smithii (Rchb.f.) Schltr.1920
Photos by The Species Identification Task Force Website
Photo by Mark Whitten and Meyers Conservancy Flasking home page Website
Photo by Nicaragua Foto Revista Website
Drawing by Fritz Hamer
Drawing by Szlatchetko
Common Name Smith's Sarcoglottis
Flower Size .5" [1 cm]
Found in Nicaragua and Costa Rica in shady humid, tropical forests at elevations of 1100 to 1700 meters as a small sized, cool growing terrestrial with several, basal, oblanceolate, undulate margins, acute, pale green with white blotches or spots, gradually narrowing below into the petiolate base leaves that blooms in the late winter on an erect, terminal, peduncle 8.8" [22 cm] long, provided with 8 to 12, lower glabrous, glandular above, green gray sheathing bracts, rachis 2.8 to 5" [7 to 12.5 cm] long, 5 to 20 flowered inflorescence with lanceolate, greyish white, glabrous, shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying large, sigmoid shaped flowers.
CAUTION!!!!!!!! The photos by SITF above are basically correct to the flower drawing by Hamer but the photos do not match the written color descriptions of the plant stem sheaths which are gray and the flowers that are intense yellow and the floral bracts are described as glabrous and grey white. The photo by Whitten is basically similar to the drawing by Szatchetko but differs in the pubescence on the ovary and sepals. The plant photo by the Nicaragua Foto Revista Website appear to be correct to Hamer's descrition. Szlatchetko's drawing does not depict the plant or inflorescence. Therefore please use caution with any of these determinations other than the leaves of the plant photo. I do not have access to Rchb.f's original description or any drawings that he may have made to make a personal determination!
Synonyms Gyrostachys smithii (Rchb.f.) Kuntze 1891; Pelexia smithii (Rchb.f.) Garay 1980 publ. 1982; Sarcoglottis bradei (Schltr.) Schltr. 1920; Sarcoglottis valida Ames 1923; Spiranthes bradei Schltr. 1918; *Spiranthes smithii Rchb.f. 1868; Spiranthes valida (Ames) L.O.Williams 1968; Zhukowskia smithii (Rchb.f.) Szlach., R.González & Rutk 2000
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Gard. Chron. 1868: 842 Rchb.f 1868 as Spiranthes smithii
Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 664 Kuntze 1891 as Gyrostachys smithii
Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 36(2): 376 Schlechter 1918 as Spiranthes bradei
* Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 37(2): 422 Schlechter 1920
Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 37(2): 415 Schelchter 1920 as Sarcoglottis bradei
Schedul. Orchid. 2: 12 Ames 1923 as Sarcoglottis valida
Fieldiana, Bot. 31: 418 L O Williams 1968 as Spiranthes valida
Bot. Mus. Leafl. 28: 345 Garay 1980 publ. 1982 as Pelexia smithii
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 1073 Hamer 1984 as Pelexia smithii drawing ok to the SITF photos;
Adansonia, sér. 3, 22: 236 Szlach., R.González & Rutk 2000 as Zhukowskia smithii
Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 44-45 pg 2763 - 2898 Brieger 2001 as Zhukowskia smithii drawing fide to the Drawing by Szlachetko;
Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003;
Flora Mesoamerica Vol 7 Parte 2 Orchidaceae: 79 MBG UNAM 2023 as Zhukowskia smithii
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
