Sobralia abel-arayae Dressler, Mel.Fernández & Pupulin 2014

Plant and Flowers Photos by © Pupulin and The Epidendra Website

Common Name Abel Araya's Sobralia [Costa Rican Collector of the type current]

Flower Size 6" [15 cm]

Found in Costa Rica at the northern end of the Cordillera deTalamanca in moist premontane foretsat elevations around 1400 metres as a giant sized, cool growing terrestrial with erect, thin stems carrying ovate, acuminate, plicate leaves that blooms in the spring on a terminal, 2.8 to 3.2" [7 to 8 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence.

Similar to S bradeorum but it has lanceolate-elliptic leaves, smaller flowers, sepals of 2.8" [7 cm] and petals half as wide [1.8 cm] and a much shorter column 1.2" [3 cm] long. S bradeorum only has 3 low keels on the lip and S abel-araya has 4. It is also similar to S warzewiczii but it has warty sheaths and the lip clearly has separate veins in the center that run all the way to the apex of the lip.

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Orchid Digest Vol 78 #3 Pupulin 2014 drawing/photo fide;

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