Sobralia oliva-estevae Carnevali & I.Ramírez 1990 SECTION Sobralia Photo by © Eric Christenson
TYPE Drawing by © Carnevali & I.Ramírez
LATE
Common Name Oliva Esteva's Sobralia [Venezuelan Orchid Collector of the type current]
Flower Size 3.8 to 4.8" [9 to 12 cm]
Found in Guyana and Bolivar state of Venezuela in dwarf cloud forests at elevations around 1300 meters as a large to giant sized, cool growing terrestrial with elongate, terete, erect, arcuately ascending to subpendulous, sometimes red tinged, somewhat lignified basally, branching and rooting at midlevel stems carrying all along the stem, subfleshy, plicate, abaxially with 2 raised nerves, decurved, narrowly ovate-elliptic to ovate-elliptic, long acuminate leaves that are atriculate to the sheaths that tighly clasp the stems that blooms in the late summer on an axillary, from the upper portion of the stem or branches, peduncle .8 to 1.2" [2 to 3 cm] long, successively single to 6 flowered inflorescence.
"The flowers are very similar to S speciosa but differs in the marginally flat petals and the more obovate and proportionally wider lip. The pedicellate ovary is shorter and about half as long as the column vs 1.3 times longer. The most striking difference is the vegetative morphology and ecological preference. S olova-estevae is an epiphyte in cloud forests while S speciosa is a terrestrial often in boggy conditions in open savannahlike tepui associatiations. S oliva-estevae has freely branching stems and proliferous in the upper half, rooting at the branching intervals, in this way becoming subscandent, eventually prostrate or pendulous. The stems of S speciosa are simple and erect. S oliva-estevae also has 2 raised abaxial nerves while S speciosa has 3 to 5. S oliva-estevae is always single flowered with several axillary successive inflorescenceproduced towards the apex of each sem or branch while S speciosa is a successively 1 to 2, 3 to 5 flowered inflorescence." Carnevali & I.Ramírez 1990
Synonyms Brasolia oliva-estevae (Carnevali & I.Ramírez) Baranow, Dudek & Szlach. 2017
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 77: 556 Carnevali & I.Ramírez 1990 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 64 #1 2000 photo fide; Pl. Syst. Evol. 303: 868 Branow, Dudek & Szach. 2017 as Brasolia oliva-estevae
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
