Scelochilus heterophyllus Rchb.f. 1876 Photo courtesy of Eric Hunt
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LATE
Common Name The Differing Leaves Scelochilus
Flower Size [.4" [1 cm]
Found in Ecuador in wet montane, cloud forests on the western slopes of the Andes at elevations of 950 to 2000 meters as a small sized, cool and pendant growing epiphyte with oblong cylindric [mature plants] psuedobulbs enveloped basally by several, distichous, imbricating, lower leafless and upper leaf-bearing sheaths and carrying a single, apical, obovate, acute, leaf that tapers to a conduplicate base and blooms in the late winter through late spring on a basal, 12" [30 cm] long, few to several flowered inflorescence arising on a mature pseudobulb through the leaf sheaths. Immature plants of this species appear to be equitant fan orchids and can have bloom spikes, yet with age they do develop psuedobulbs.
CAUTION I feel that this determination is correct but in the drawing by Senghas there are no calli on the lip and in the photo above they are well evident so use with caution. I don't know how both Doson and Senghas missed them unless they were using dried material and missed them. All other parameters of the drawing are in the photo above and it is a good match.
Synonyms Comparettia heterophylla [Rchb.f] Chase & NH Wms 2008
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 292 Dodson 1980 drawing good but does not show pair of calli on lip; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 31 1905 - 1976 Brieger 1995 Drawing good but does not show pair of calli on lip; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 5 Dodson 2004 photo ok; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 12 2008 as Comparettia heterophylla photo fide
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