Scelochilus hirtzii Dodson 1989
Photo by Oliver Lenhard
Common Name Hirtz's Scelochilus [German Engineer, Orchid Enthusiast and Orchid Collector in Ecuador current]
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in Valle de Cauca department of Colombia and Ecuador on the eastern slopes of then Andes at elevations of 2200 to 2850 meters as a miniature to small sized, cold growing epiphyte with conical to ovate pseudobulbs enveloped basally by several, leafless below and dark green and leaf-bearing above sheaths and carrying a single, apical, leathery, acute, widest in the middle and tapering below into the conduplicate petiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring and summer on a basal, to 7" [18 cm] long, 4 to 6 flowered inflorescence arising on a newly matured pseudobulb through the axil of the upper leaf sheath.
CAUTION Dodson's drawing of S romansii in Icones clearly shows 2 calli on the lip and 2 horn-like extensions towards the base, If you check Dodson's drawing of S hirtzii it has a smooth lip and the 2 horn like extensions at the base as this one does. In Native Colombian Orchids #594 the flower has 2 calli on the lip and 2 hook-like extensions at the base. Could this one, S romansii, S hirtzii and S langlassei be confused in the publications? Who knows how to sort them out? Are they correct on my site?
Synonyms Comparettia hirtzii [Dodson] Chase & NH Wms. 2008
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
*Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Plate 580 Dodson 1989 drawing could be see caution; Die Orchideen lieferung 31 Schlechter/Brieger 1995; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 5 Dodson 2004 photo fide to Hirtz photo; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 12 2008 as Comparettia hirtzii; Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 as S cf langlassei photo fide
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